Book 21 - Whosoever Fights Monsters
by GailDunn2
Summary: WARNING: ADULT THEMES AND SITUATIONS. The Tablet missions lead Castiel's group to Romania, where they must confront a multitude of monsters. Lucifer and Crowley have formed an uneasy alliance. The Devil has come up with a new strategy to distract the God Squad, and Jason has begun to feed.
1. Hazy Shade Of Winter

Chapter 1 - Hazy Shade Of Winter

Cas and Gail had cuddled for hours, watching TV, with few words exchanged. They were both mentally worn out from all of the emotional ups and downs they'd experienced over the last couple of days. And now, they were about to embark on another Tablet mission. And even though they had every reason to believe they would eventually see Henri in Heaven once Heaven's politics were sorted out, both of them felt sad that such a good man would have to die so painfully. It should be Benoit and his ilk being eaten away by cancer, Gail had said viciously. Cas's arms had tightened around her for a moment when she'd said that, but he had said nothing. Then she had told him that she shouldn't have said that, but what she'd actually meant was that she shouldn't have said it out loud. That was how she honestly felt, deep down. How was it fair that a wonderful man like Henri should suffer so much? Hadn't he and his family suffered enough, at the hands of people like Benoit and his followers? She was glad that Cas had blown up their headquarters with almost all of those horrible people still in the building, and she was glad that Henri had killed Kurt, too. And if that made her a crappy Angel, which it probably did, Gail had ceased to care at the moment.

Then, at dawn, Gail had taken the TV remote from Cas's hand and turned the television off. "I know we've been blue about Henri, but we're still newlyweds, and we did receive the happiest news we could have ever gotten in Mongolia," she'd said to him, trying to make herself smile. "So, do you think I could get a little loving before we're off to our next adventure?"

"Of course," Cas had answered, grateful to her for trying to lift his spirits. Then he smiled gently. "You don't look blue to me, though. Do I look blue to you? Maybe you're thinking of that Smurfs program we saw a while back."

As a quip, it was decidedly lame, but at least he was trying. The road ahead was going to be bumpy enough. They'd better try to shake themselves out of their doldrums, if they could.

He kissed her, holding her tightly, and she clung to him even more fervently than usual. They started off tentatively, seeking comfort from each other, more than anything else. But soon they were both crying out, as usual.

After they made love for the first time, Cas pulled the covers back over them. The weather was getting quite chilly now.

"I hope we will be able to obtain the Tablet soon after we get there," Cas said to her. "I promised you a nice Christmas here, and I meant it. No matter what. It's time that we had a purely happy occasion, one that lasts longer than five minutes. We all deserve that, and we're going to have it. Come what may."

Gail snuggled against him, smiling. "I completely agree," she said, pleased to hear him say it. "That'll give us something to look forward to." She could just picture it now. "Turkey, tree, presents. The whole nine yards," she continued. "We'll invite everyone over for Christmas Eve Day, as early as they want to come, and nobody'll be allowed to leave until the 26th. In fact, we'll get you to whip up a big snowstorm, so nobody can leave."

Cas smiled. "Our neighbours may not appreciate that."

"Screw 'em," she retorted good-naturedly. "I'm sure they get to celebrate Christmas every year. This will be our first Christmas together, and I want it to be just perfect."

Cas laughed, and he began to caress her underneath the blanket. It was amazing. Last night when they'd gotten home, he had felt depressed and depleted, and now he was happy and excited about spending Christmas in his new home, with his wife and all their loved ones. And it was all due to Gail. She was astonishing.

"You shouldn't talk like that. You're an Angel," he teased her, but he was kissing her face now, again and again, to demonstrate to her that he was only joking.

"I already packed my halo," she retorted mischievously, "and considering what we're about to do to each other, it's probably just as well, don't you think?" She looked up at him, raising an eyebrow.

Cas was shaking his head slowly. She was unbelievable. And she was also quite correct. She was touching him now, and he was extremely excited. He threw the covers off of them and looked at her body speculatively. "Where would you like me to start?" he asked her softly.

"Anywhere you want," she replied, and he bent down to kiss her on the lips, using his tongue.

"I'll start here," he said. "Always here."

Gail gave him her tongue in return. "That's a good start," she said, settling back into the pillows.

"As the expression goes, you haven't seen anything yet," Cas said lightly, and suddenly, his tongue seemed to be everywhere on her body. She moaned, she giggled, and then she cried out. "I love you, Cas!" she exclaimed. Then she was reaching out for him, and he smiled up at her. "You seem to be under the impression that I'm finished here," he said charmingly. Then he bent his head to her again, and she cried out once more, writhing underneath him. Cas held her steady and continued what he was doing until she finally calmed down.

"Now we can talk about me," he said, raising himself up. He slid into her and she automatically wrapped her legs around him. "I love it when you do that," Cas said in her ear.

"And I love it when you do what you're doing right now," she answered. "Go faster, Cas, please."

He sped up as she asked, and a moment later, he was moaning loudly. Gail wrapped her arms around him and held him close to her as he pushed forward once more, and then he was still.

It was full-on morning now, and sunlight was filtering in through the bedroom drapes. "I guess that's our cue," Gail said, kissing Cas's face gently. "Looks like it's shower time."

Cas sighed. She was right, of course. He kissed her and cuddled with her for another minute. "You go ahead, first," Gail said to him. "I'll clean our clothes and pack our bags. Then I'll go, when you're done."

"You're amazing," he blurted out, kissing her face.

Gail smiled. "Why? Because I can clean a few pieces of clothing and pack? Every woman alive can do that."

Cas smiled back. "No. Because...you healed me. I was sad and discouraged when we got home last night, and now I'm refreshed, and my faith is renewed. You did that for me, Gail. You always do. Is it any wonder that I love you so?"

She touched his face. "I'm glad, Cas. You do the same for me. Today is a brand new day." She kissed him softly on the lips, then smiled and said, "Now, you'd better move, or we'll have to phone Sam and Dean and tell them we'll be late."

Cas was still smiling. How he wished they could do just that. He gave her one more kiss, and then he rose from her and headed to the shower.

About half an hour later, they popped into the bunker. The humans were in the kitchen just finishing up breakfast. "Oh, good, you're here," Tommy said to them. "Everyone seemed pretty anxious to get an early start. I've got the usual slide show already set up."

They all trooped into the library area, the humans carrying their coffee cups with them. Robbie was sitting on the couch, flipping channels on the remote. Frank walked up to him and grabbed the remote, switching it to the setting for Tommy's computer.

Jody looked at Tommy with her eyebrow raised. He gave her a half-shrug. "It's your call, but it might be best to send Robbie to his room, to get started on his assignments." Then he smiled thinly. "I gave him some reading to do on Romanian geography and culture. I figured if he couldn't be with his parents, at least he could learn a little bit more about where they were going. And the reading he'll be doing will be a lot more PG than what we're going to talk about here."

Jody gave Tommy a hug. "You're such a good dad," she told him, and he flashed her a grin, pleased by her compliment. "Let's go, kiddo," Jody said to Robbie, gesturing to the boy. He sighed, but he knew the drill by now. They were going to talk about grownup stuff, and then his Mom and Dad and half his Aunts and Uncles were going to leave, to get another Tablet to defeat the Devil. Robbie was really disappointed that he had to stay locked up here in the bunker, but he guessed he understood, too. The adults were all heroes, trying to rid the world of the bad guys, and Robbie needed to remind himself that this was all much bigger than him. He had complained about the situation one night, and Tommy had sat him down and told him very sternly that he had to grow up about it. What his parents and the Angels were doing was saving humanity, and it was a cause that Robbie's Mom had died for. Robbie had burst into tears, running to his room, and Barry had yelled at Tommy that he'd been too hard on the boy. But a few minutes later, Robbie had come back out of his room and crawled onto Tommy's lap, hugging him and apologizing for being so selfish. Tommy had hugged Robbie back and kissed him on the forehead, telling him to go get a bowl of ice cream and then go see what was on TV. Then, when Robbie left the room, Barry had pulled Tommy to his feet and embraced him, saying he was sorry, he had been wrong.

Frank had been heading to the kitchen to get himself a beer, and he'd stopped short, witnessing the latter scene between Robbie and Tommy. Tommy had confessed to Frank a few minutes earlier about what he'd said to Robbie, because he had felt bad about making the boy cry. But Frank approved of the way that Tommy had handled the situation, and what he was seeing now only bolstered his opinion.

As Robbie had rushed by Frank with his bowl of ice cream in hand, Frank had started to wonder about their entire situation. Were he and Jody being selfish when it came to Robbie? They clearly weren't the only parental figures in the boy's life, and they'd spent a lot more time away from him lately than they had planned on when they had originally arranged to take him. Maybe they should talk about a different type of arrangement, going forward.

But for right now, things would remain status quo. Frank tousled Robbie's hair and Robbie said, "Dad! Don't mess up the 'do! It took me all morning to comb it just right."

"Well, that was your mistake, right there," Frank told him, grinning. "If you never comb your hair, it'll just style itself."

"Ladies and gentlemen, my brother, the fantastic role model," Gail said, smiling.

"Ahh, what do you Angels know about our human problems?" Frank groused good-naturedly. "Cas probably rolls out of bed perfectly coiffed, shaved, and dressed in the morning."

"No, Frank, I shower and shave, just like you do," Cas told him.

"But, to address your point, he does roll out of bed perfect," Gail added, as Cas smiled at her.

"Is everyone ready?" Tommy asked briskly. Gail smiled at him. He sounded just like a teacher.

"Class, settle down," Chuck quipped, and they all laughed. Cas took Gail's hand and led her over to the sofa as they flashed Chuck appreciative smiles. They were so happy that he was back to his normal self now.

Once everyone was seated, Tommy put the first slide on the TV screen. It was a black and white picture of an unusual-looking man.

"Vlad Tepes," Tommy said, "also known as Vlad the Impaler."

"Wow," Frank said. "Why the long face?"

"And look at the big porn 'stache he's got," Dean said, smirking.

Sam was fascinated. He'd heard about Vlad the Impaler, of course. Dean had always claimed that Sam had a "thing" for serial killers and admittedly, the younger Winchester had been interested in true crime from a very young age.

"He reigned Wallachia in the mid-1400s," Tommy continued. "His date of birth and the date of his death are unknown."

"That's because he's undead," Frank said, smirking. "Blah, blah!"

Jody rolled her eyes. "OK, Frank, we get it. He's a vampire. Har har. Moving along..."

Tommy smiled. "His father, Vlad II Dracul - hence the name - was a member of the Order Of The Dragon, which was founded to protect Christianity, believe it or not. Vlad Tepes was viewed as a hero, protecting his country from potential invaders. He got his nickname from how he dealt with those enemies. He would have his soldiers impale their captives on sharp stakes and display them on the lawn outside the castle to serve as an example for other would-be enemies. They would be alive when they were impaled, of course, so it would take them a while to die if none of their major organs were pierced, and they would die painfully. Rumour had it that Vlad Tepes would even have a table set up outside on nice days, and have a feast served. There are drawings of him chowing down on what I fervently hope is a chicken leg in full view of his screaming, bleeding victims. But they're drawings only. It's not like they had the Internet back then, and his servants could post the pictures on Instagram. It's pure speculation at this point."

"Even so, I think I speak for us all when I say 'ewww'," Chuck quipped, and they all laughed.

"Times were different back then," Cas remarked. "They were much more barbaric. That kind of behaviour wouldn't have been all that unusual for the region, and for the times."

"Well, you oughta know," Dean said, "seeing as you're the only one in the room who was around back then."

"I just hope we don't see YOU in one of those drawings," Frank quipped.

"That's very amusing, Frank," Cas said absently, but he wasn't smiling. They could joke all they liked, but they had no idea what things had really been like back then. Sam liked to watch a TV show called "Game Of Thrones", and Cas had tried to watch it with him once. The show depicted the brutality and bloodthirsty ways of that era fairly realistically, Cas had thought. He didn't enjoy watching that show, but he understood that it might be of vicarious interest to someone who had not lived through those times.

Tommy had changed slides. "Bran Castle," he told everyone, "is a 13th-century palace near Brasov, in Transylvania. It's commonly known as 'Dracula's Castle'. It's one of the locations Sam and I think needs to be considered as a possible place for the Tablet to be. We can confirm from historical documents that Vlad did live there. But sorry, Frank and Dean, Bran Castle has nothing to do with the novel, and the myth of Dracula. Bram Stoker definitely named his character after Vlad's father, and he most likely used the castle as inspiration for the beginning part of his novel. But I'd tone that stuff down when you get there. As you can probably imagine, the locals resent the association of Vlad Tepes with the fictional vampire. As I said, he's considered a national hero."

Sam grinned now. "That doesn't stop them from making a quick buck from it, though. When Tommy and I Googled Bran Castle, we found out that the road leading up to it is lined with stalls hawking Dracula lighters, T-shirts and mugs, etc., etc. Even fake fangs."

"Really?" Frank said, perking up.

"That does it. I'm confiscating your wallet before we get there," Jody told him, and everybody laughed.

"Yeah, they're certainly not above exploiting gullible tourists," Tommy said, shaking his head. "Everyone thinks the entire country is overrun with superstition, and they're all backward there. But even though they do have some unusual superstitions and legends there, they're no weirder than a lot of ours, really. Sam told me a few stories about some of the monsters that he and Dean have encountered, and that lore is really no worse, just a bit different, culturally speaking."

"Is Elizabeth Bathory real?" Jody piped up suddenly. Heads swiveled to look at her.

"How did you know about her, Jodes?" Sam asked her, intrigued.

"I read about her somewhere," Jody replied, "and I remember thinking that, if she was a real person, she might have been history's first recorded female serial killer."

Sam looked at her with admiration. "I've never felt closer to you than I do at this moment," he said teasingly. "Yeah, she was a real person, Jodes."

"Do you wanna enlighten the rest of us?" Frank asked him. "And, more importantly, stop looking at my wife that way, or I'll have to challenge you to a duel, or something. That's what you old-timey guys would do, right, Cas?"

"Sometimes," Cas agreed, nodding. "Or sometimes, we would just take a sword to the meeting early and behead our rival before we even got to the dueling ground."

Frank looked at Cas, then at Sam, then back at Cas. He couldn't tell if Cas was kidding, or not. But when Frank looked back at Sam, Cas's lips twitched, and Gail nudged him. Good one, her eyes said.

Tommy cleared his throat. He did feel like a teacher with this group, sometimes. But considering the types of situations they'd had to face, he couldn't really blame them for injecting a little levity into the proceedings sometimes.

"She WAS a real person," Tommy confirmed. "But since she doesn't really factor into the subject at hand, I didn't mention her."

"Well, now I've gotta know," Frank said. "Just tell us quickly, and we can move on."

Tommy and Sam exchanged glances. "She was a local woman of some nobility who was very vain about her looks," Tommy told the group. "Legend has it that one day, a young servant girl was brushing the Countess of Bathory's hair, and the brush got stuck. The girl pulled her hair, and I guess it hurt the poor thing. So apparently, she turned around and smacked the girl, so hard that it drew blood. Beats me how, exactly; maybe she was wearing a ring, and maybe it cut the girl's lip. Anyway, allegedly the blood dripped onto Liz's skin and in her twisted mind, it made her skin suddenly look more youthful. Guess what happened next?"

"No way," Frank said. Jody, Sam and Tommy were nodding. "Way," Tommy confirmed. "She started rounding up young servant girls, bleeding them, and taking baths in their blood."

"Holy crap," Dean said, amazed.

"Hey, never underestimate a woman when it comes to her beauty regimen," Jody wisecracked.

"Wow, she was worse than Dracula," Frank commented.

Gail looked at Jody, and both women were fighting not to smile. All these guys thought that Dracula was cool, but they were horrified at the thought of a female being a bloodthirsty killer. Was that a double standard, or what?

"Oh, I don't know," Gail said airily. "If Riley calls me 'Ma'am' one more time, I might consider trying it."

Riley looked stricken. He had been sitting on a chair he'd brought over from the library table that he'd placed beside the spot where Cas sat on the couch. Gail was starting to find Riley's hero worship of Cas highly amusing. Sam and Dean had let him stay at the bunker, and he showed no signs of wanting to leave. Maybe since Bobby was no longer God, or even an Angel, he didn't feel as if he had the authority to tell Riley to go back, or maybe Riley just didn't want to go. She supposed they would have to sort young Riley out, one way or the other. Perhaps if Cas asked him to go back to Heaven, he would. She very much doubted that Cas would want someone as young and green as Riley involved in any of their missions. But while he was here, she wasn't above teasing him, just as she would any of the others.

Gail and Jody laughed, then Gail looked at Riley and said, "As I'm sure you've seen, we all like to tease each other here, Riley."

"Yeah, the meaner she is to you, the more she likes you," Dean piped up.

"Oh, look who's talking," Gail retorted.

"Bite me, Mrs. Castiel," Dean shot back, grinning.

"Speaking of which," Tommy said loudly, trying to bring everyone back to the point, "there's a Dracula's Castle Hotel in the Borgo Pass, which could be another place for the Tablet. It's another tourist trap. There's even a crypt and a coffin in the basement of the place. We booked all of you in there. The hotel's restaurant is the original building of the house where Vlad was born, so the structure itself dates way back. You'll like this, Dean: the ground floor of the hotel has a small museum called the Museum of Ancient Weaponry."

"Yahtzee," Dean said happily. "I can't wait to see what kind of weird-ass weapons they have in there. Maybe we'll have to steal a few for here, Sammy."

"You do realize that half of the people in this room are Angels, right?" Sam said, grinning again.

"Well, some of us aren't any more, and we're not getting any younger, either," Bobby said irascibly. "Quit your foolin' around. I'd like to leave sometime today."

The Winchesters fell silent, and Tommy continued, "The town where the impalements actually took place is called Targoviste. It's 64 miles northwest of Bucharest. We've identified that as a possible third location, but since that's a whole town, maybe you want to try the hotel and restaurant first, since you'll be staying there, anyway. Then the castle, if you come up empty there. Then, if you need me to, I can do some further research."

"What's the weather going to be like?" Gail asked him.

Tommy smiled. He and Sam had known she would ask. "I have some good news for you, Gail. It'll be cool and dry. You may even see the remnants of fall colours on the trees. You'll be just on the cusp of winter when you get there. Winters are cold there, especially in the mountains, and there could very well be a bit of snow."

"Yayyy," she said, smiling. "Finally, a livable climate. "I might even have to buy a winter jacket when we get there."

"Culturally speaking, you should find the people there friendly and very hospitable," Tommy continued. "Many of them have pretty good senses of humour, from everything I've read. I guess you'd have to, when where you're from has such a bad rap, mythologically speaking. Most of them should be able to speak some English, especially in the more tourist-y locations. They also speak French, German, and Romanian, of course. Most of the people you'll encounter will be Christians. In fact, you'll probably arrive just in time for Saint Andrews' Day. He was known as the First Called, or the First Chosen. Legend says, among his other talents, he could hit the ground with his walking stick, and water would just spring up out of the ground."

Gail looked at Cas. That sounded like something her husband might be able to do with his blade. Maybe she would get him to try it.

"For you humans, especially Frank and Dean, there's more good news," Tommy continued in a cheerful tone. "The cuisine there is based pretty heavily on meat. Lots of comfort food. Soups with pork, sausage, and lamb. If you're feeling especially adventurous, there's a local dish called 'drob de miel'."

"Do we even want to know what that is?" Frank asked him suspiciously.

"It's a sort of lamb haggis, made from offal," Tommy replied, somewhat evasively.

"Can we have that in English?" Dean said.

"Heart, liver, and lungs," Cas told him.

Dean made a face, and Cas gave him a tight smile. He reminded himself that none of them here would have ever butchered an animal for the purposes of sustenance. His Father had put animals on the Earth to serve man, and it had been considered a crime not to kill animals for food, and also to use as many parts of the animal as you could. In the ancient times, offal had been a staple in many meals, and no one would have turned their nose up at it if the alternative was to starve.

"That's OK, Dean, they'll also have beer, and plenty of it," Tommy told him. "They also drink a lot of wine, and the local booze is 'tuica', which is a plum brandy. Watch that stuff; it packs a punch. I was there as a young correspondent and I overindulged, and the next morning I woke up in bed with a guy whose name I couldn't even remember." He grinned ruefully. "Sorry, hon," he said to Barry.

Barry shrugged. "Hey, we all had our flings when we were younger."

"Cas didn't," Dean piped up.

"Dean!" Gail exclaimed. "Why would you say something like that?" Truthfully, it didn't really bother her all that much, coming from him. They were a pretty close-knit group. But she knew that the male ego could sometimes be a fragile thing, and she didn't want Cas to be embarrassed in front of all his male friends.

But Cas was smiling, practically beaming. He took her hand and brought it to his lips. "That's right; I didn't," he said proudly. "I was waiting for my person. She took a long time to get to the altar, but I could never have been with anyone else, so I had no choice but to remain chaste until she finally got here."

Wow, Frank thought. He'd always suspected as much, but Cas really had to have some kind of chops to have held out for that long. Jody hadn't been Frank's first, and he knew he hadn't been hers. But that didn't matter to him, because now, they would be each other's last.

He was definitely not above teasing his brother-in-law, though. "'I made it through the wilderness, somehow I made it through'," he said.

Jody knew what he was doing, and she tried to resist, she really did. But the words flew out of her mouth anyway: "'Didn't know how lost I was, until I found you'."

They were both grinning, and Cas looked at them and said, "That's beautiful. Is it a love poem?"

Gail was glaring at her brother and sister-in-law now. "It's the overture to two people getting their asses kicked, that's what it is," she said.

Now Sam and Dean were grinning, and Barry and Tommy looked at each other. "I was beat," Barry said. "Incomplete," Tommy added.

"I'd been had, I was sad and blue," Chuck piped up.

"But you made me feel, yeah, you made me feel shiny and new," Sam contributed.

"I will pull my blade on everyone in this room," Gail threatened. She was trying to stay angry, but her lips were twitching furiously now. Even Bobby's eyes were crinkling with amusement.

There was a moment's silence, and then everyone started to sing "Like A Virgin". Cas looked confused, and then he nodded. Now he got it.

Gail was looking at him, trying to gauge his reaction. He looked back at her. "Does everyone know that song?" Cas asked his wife.

"It was a pretty popular song," she told him. "They all think they're being really funny."

"Do YOU think it's funny?" he asked her, curious.

Gail broke into a smile. "I kind of do," she told him. "I hope that doesn't hurt your feelings."

"Do you know the song, too?" he inquired.

She nodded. "Yeah, I do, Cas."

"I want to hear you sing it with them, then," he said.

She gave up. It was impossible to resist, when everyone was singing so happily together. Even Dean was singing along now. So she joined them for the chorus as Cas looked at them all in amazement.

When they were done, Cas applauded. "That was very enjoyable," he said. "Perhaps you should all form a choir."

Dean was looking at him suspiciously. Cas was doing that inscrutable thing that he did sometimes. "Are you mad at us, Cas?" he asked his friend.

"Why would I be mad, Dean?" Cas said mildly. "Because everyone in the room is having fun at my expense?"

Dean did a double-take, then said, "OK, everybody lock their doors and paint sigils on their walls."

Cas smiled. "Sigils don't work on me anymore, Dean. I'm able to transcend them now, if I'm properly motivated."

Gail was smirking at the look on Dean's face. Cas was simply having fun with him now. Well, she was pretty sure he was, anyway. She would double-check with him later, when they were alone, to make sure his feelings hadn't been hurt. But for now, she confirmed, "It's true, Dean. He got past the sigil that Lucifer had put on the library wall. It's like the power of positive thinking, or something. And if he did it once, I'm sure he could do it again."

Dean looked startled, and Gail burst out laughing. "Sure, you can laugh," Dean grumbled. "He's not gonna kick YOUR ass."

"Well, maybe all of you should have thought of that before you started your little song," Gail retorted.

"Okay, we've had our fun, but is there any chance we can get back on the subject?" Tommy said.

"What WERE we talking about, anyway?" Chuck asked him.

Tommy threw up his hands. "I don't even know any more. It's a good thing we don't do this kind of thing all that often. If I was a teacher and you were all my students, I'd have quit my job by now."

"Hey, I've got a really important question," Dean said. "When am I gonna get to drive a car on any of these missions? I thought since we were going to Europe, I'd get to drive a cool import, or something. Hell, I'd even settle for a mini-Cooper, at this point."

"Austin Powers?" Sam said, amused. "'Groovy, Baby,'" he added, attempting an English accent.

Dean looked at his brother. "Never do that again," he admonished him sternly.

By now, Bobby had resigned himself to the fact that this group was determined to digress. But now, he thought that might not be such a terrible thing after all, within reason. They'd all been through so much lately; maybe they just needed to blow off a little steam. Truth be told, so did he. With everything that had been going on, Bobby really hadn't had a chance to process his own feelings about being a human again. On the one hand, he had missed being here with the boys, being in the midst of all the action. But, on the other hand, being a human again meant that he was now feeling each and every year of his age. Maybe he should stop acting like such a grumpy old man all the time and try to have a little fun every once in a while. Maybe that was what kept you young.

So he said, "Considering where we're going, maybe you should be driving Herman Munster's car."

The Winchesters looked at Bobby in surprise. When was the last time they'd heard him say anything even remotely hunourous. Neither of them could remember.

Sam grinned. "It'd be more like the Addams Family, for our generation," he said, "but I don't know what they drove. If anything."

"The way Cas and Gail act, they could be Gomez and Morticia," Dean said. "And Frank could be Lurch, cause he's so tall."

"Hey, Sam's tall, too!" Frank objected.

"Yeah, but until Sam gets a haircut, he's gotta be Cousin Itt," Dean said, smirking.

"Who's willing to shave their head?" Sam said good-naturedly. "We need an Uncle Fester."

Tommy turned off the computer. "I give up. You people are impossible."

"Sorry, Tommy. I don't know what's gotten into everyone today," Gail told him. "We'll listen now. We promise."

"That's OK, Gail," he replied. "I know how you guys get, sometimes. But I'm just trying to make things easier for you when you get there, that's all."

"See now, you've hurt Tommy's feelings," Gail chided Dean and Frank. "He does a wonderful job with all of his research. You guys need to behave yourselves."

"Us? What about you?" Dean said, astonished.

"Since when are you the boss of me?" Frank protested.

"Well, she may not be, but I am, and I say, can it," Jody said sharply. "Gail's right. You guys need to show Tommy some respect."

The men fell silent, and Tommy smiled. "Thanks, Ladies. OK, so I was just about to talk about Romanian etiquette, and superstitions. I believe I mentioned they're not necessarily more superstitious than we are, but they do have a few kind of odd ones. And I know etiquette sounds trivial, but it'll make things easier for you over there if you don't offend the locals." He waited for someone to interject, but there was nothing forthcoming for a change, so he continued: "The Angels won't be eating and drinking, of course, but you'll offend your hosts if you don't take their offer of a refill, so Cas and Gail, keep that in mind. Even if you do refuse, they'll insist, so you might want to figure out a strategy for that. Avoid aggressive negotiations for anything, if you're doing business with a local. It's considered rude if you don't establish a bit of a personal relationship, first. Ask about their kids, or whatever. No blunt, direct talk."

"We'll send Cas in for that assignment, then," Dean wisecracked. Jody shot him a look. "Sorry," he said quickly, and Gail had to avert her face to keep from laughing.

Tommy powered on. "It's good etiquette to bring your host a gift. The woman who runs the hotel would be a perfect example. If one of you handsome guys wanted to bring her a gift, you could probably finesse your way into a few more places in the hotel to search."

"What's she look like?" Dean asked with a grin, unable to resist.

Now Tommy smiled. "Plump, and grandmotherly. It looks like she's in her mid-60s."

"Over to you, Sammy," Dean said, and everyone laughed.

"Anyway, if you decide to give her flowers, just make sure that there's an uneven number of them. An even number of flowers is unacceptable. It's considered very rude, because even numbers are only used at funerals."

"Maybe just skip the flowers altogether, and bring her chocolates, instead," Dean said, smirking.

"It's considered very bad luck to break a mirror," Tommy continued quickly, before anyone else had the opportunity to go off on another tangent. "Just like people believe here. Seven years' bad luck. But then, it goes left of centre from there. I know you'll be taking lots of weapons, but one local superstition is that if you play with a knife, 'the Angels will run away from you'. Make of that what you will," he added with a faint smile.

"There you go, Gail. If Cas pisses you off, you can just do that," Dean said.

"Wow, I don't know what was in your cereal this morning, but we may have to stop by the animal shelter for a muzzle," Gail said to him. She'd actually thought that what he'd said was a little funny, but she didn't want to encourage him right now. Bobby was starting to look cranky again.

"It's not all fun and games," Tommy plowed on. "They believe that if a painting falls from a wall, a close friend or relative will die very soon afterwards. If a cat sits on someone's grave, that person's soul has arrived in Hell. And, if there are 13 people in a room at one time, the one sitting closest to a mirror will die."

"It's a good thing that Ethan, Kevin and Becky are still in Heaven, then," Chuck remarked. "If we include Robbie, there were only 12 people in the room earlier."

They all looked reflexively at the mirror that hung above the fireplace in the living room area. Frank and Jody were sitting underneath it on the loveseat, and Dean was sitting in the chair next to Jody. Jody looked from her husband to Dean and back again. "If these two keep it up, that could end up being a fact, instead of a superstition," Jody said, but she was smiling.

"Okay, the last thing I'll talk about is the gypsies," Tommy said. "That term is actually politically incorrect. They're Romani people, or 'Roms', for short. They're wary of Americans because there are so many negative stereotypes associated with their culture. They do have some colourful expressions, though. If you want to tell somebody to go to hell, you say 'du-te dracu'."

"There's that derivative of Dracula again," Sam commented.

Tommy nodded. "Yeah, and 'Pe dracu' basically means b.s., like, 'it's too good to be true'. The literal translation is 'Only the Devil could believe that'. There are other, more vulgar expressions that I won't get into. Oh, and Jody and Gail will like this: A 'magar' is a jackass; it's a term for males who are stupid, rude, or annoying. I'm just going to let that one lay there, with no editorial comment whatsoever."

Gail and Jody smiled at each other. "That one's definitely going in the memory banks," Jody quipped. "In fact, I may have to get a couple of personalized license plates made up for Christmas." She and Gail laughed, and after a moment, so did everyone else.

"And the last thing I'll leave you with are some words of caution," Tommy said. "Guys, if you're ordering a drink and you want lemon with it, be very, very careful of your pronunciation for lemon. If you say 'la muie' instead, you're going to get slapped in the face. Well, by any woman of quality, anyway."

"OK, you've gotta tell us what that means, now," Sam said, curious.

Tommy grinned. "All I'll say is that the latter term describes a certain act which my gentleman friend and I may or may not have indulged in that night, when I drank too much tuica."

Sam looked at Dean. "I'll Google it later," he told his brother.

"That's it, folks. That's all I've got," Tommy told them. Everyone stood, thanking him.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Cas said, gesturing to Barry.

"Sure, Cas, what is it?" his friend asked.

"I'm not sure how long we'll be gone, so I want to make sure you have everything you need here, before we go," Cas said to him. "I don't want anyone to leave the bunker, under any circumstances. From now on, until we take care of Lucifer, I don't want to see any humans leaving here without my protection. Is that understood?"

"Sure, Cas," Barry said soberly. "There's no way we're taking that chance again." He remembered the last time, when Cas had gone to Paris and he and Tommy had tried to drive Robbie to school. Robbie's father had shown up, and so had Lucifer, and Robbie had been taken. Luckily, the Angels had been able to retrieve the boy.

"I mean it," Cas said sternly. "I'm going to ask Riley to stay here, just in case I'm needed. You have my cell number, of course, but he can call us on Angel Radio, if need be. If you need anything, or you sense any kind of danger, I want you to contact me immediately."

"We'll do that, Cas," Barry told him. Then he looked at Gail. "You're right, he's sexy when he's stern."

Gail smiled. She got up on her tiptoes to kiss Cas smartly on the cheek. "I agree," she said. "I had an idea," she said to her husband. "I think I want to pop over to our place and bring our candlestick over here. There won't be anybody there anyway, and that way, we'll have double the protection here. What do you think? It couldn't hurt, right?"

Cas put his arm around her and gave her a squeeze. He thought she was sweet to think of it. "It might not help, but it couldn't hurt," he agreed.

Gail touched Barry's arm and then winked out of the bunker. Barry looked at Cas. "I'm so glad to see the two of you constantly together, weathering all of the storms," Barry said to him. "Every time I get discouraged, I take inspiration from the two of you."

"Gail once told me that love trumps everything," Cas said softly. "We have to believe that, Barry. At times, it's all we have."

"I do believe it," his friend answered. "I believe in you and Gail, and all of you. And to answer your question, we have everything we need for a while, Cas. When you were in Paris, Bobby and the other Angels brought a whole bunch of food and other supplies here. He said he had the feeling we were going to be on lockdown for a while. But if you're gone a long time and we do run out of something really important, like ice cream for the kid, we'll call you." He grinned to show that he was teasing.

Cas looked at Bobby, who was talking with Frank and Jody. Cas walked over to where the three of them stood.

"Can I speak with you a moment, Bobby?" Cas asked him.

The men moved away from the couple.

"Yeah, Cas?" Bobby said.

"I just wanted to tell you..." Cas faltered. He tried again. "Sometimes I don't give you enough credit," Cas told Bobby. "I know that you and I have had our differences, but I want you to know that I think you were a very good God, Bobby."

Bobby regarded him curiously, wondering where that had come from, all of a sudden. "Thanks, Cas," he said. Then he looked around. "I thought I saw Gail wink out a second ago. Where did she go?" he asked Cas.

Cas told Bobby about her idea, and Bobby nodded appreciatively. Gail was one smart cookie. "I know you haven't been around to enjoy it much, but how are you liking the house, Cas?" he asked.

"We love it," Cas told him. "Much better than the last one."

"Yeah. That was too bad," Bobby agreed. "Thank God no one got hurt in the explosion."

Cas looked at him, startled. He suddenly realized he was missing a golden opportunity here. If he was looking for corroboration of Metatron's claim that the entire Demon period was nothing but a false memory, Cas need only ask Bobby some questions.

"Explosion?" he echoed.

Bobby looked at him strangely. "Ya know, Dean was joking about you getting Angel Alzheimer's the other day, and I'm starting to wonder if he wasn't onto something. The explosion, Cas! When those kids broke into your house and tried to cook up some meth. They blew the place sky-high."

Cas looked at him, astonished. Kids? Meth? This was the strongest support yet for Metatron's story. So, Bobby hadn't rained down holy fire on their house, it had been destroyed by juvenile criminals?

He opened his mouth to ask Bobby some more questions, but then, he thought better of it. Too many questions phrased too bluntly might arouse Bobby's suspicions. The last thing Cas wanted to do right now was to take the focus away from the mission at hand. Still, he really wanted to be certain. Maybe he would be able to get in a few more questions here and there, along the way.

Gail popped back in and set the candlestick on the library table, beside its mate. Frank and Jody were just coming out of the hallway with their bags. They had gone down to Robbie's room to say goodbye, and to tell him that they would see him as soon as they possibly could. Robbie was sad to see them leave again, but he was growing used to it by now, and he knew that Barry and Tommy would take good care of him in the meantime. And Robbie's mom told him that Uncle Cas was going to ask Riley to stay here with them, too. Robbie was happy about that. Besides Kevin, Riley was the closest to him in age. They'd already bonded over video games, and Tommy had promised Robbie that if he did well in his assignments and kept his room clean like Barry asked him, he'd be allowed to play some video games with Riley when he was done.

"Hey! How's that house you never see?" Frank asked Gail.

"I might ask you the same thing," she responded. "That's okay; you're all coming over to our place for a big Christmas this year. The house will get nice and broken in, then."

"Christmas? Did I hear you say you're hosting Christmas this year?" Dean said, putting his bag down beside Frank's and Jody's.

"Yep," Gail confirmed happily.

"So we're gonna have a real home-cooked turkey dinner this year?" Dean said excitedly.

"Only if you behave," she shot back.

"Then, no," Sam grinned, putting his bag down next to Dean's and nudging his brother.

Everyone laughed. "Ready?" Cas asked. He took Sam and Dean by their hands, Gail grabbed Frank and Jody, and Chuck took Bobby. "I'll be back for the bags in a minute," Cas told Barry. Then the group winked out of the bunker.


	2. In Your Room

Chapter 2 - In Your Room

Originally, Lucifer had thought about having them just rip the crap out of the fabric of the Portal and empty Purgatory unto the Earth. But as the first few creatures came out, he changed his mind. There were vampires, werewolves, and a few non-descript, lower-tier monsters, and that was fine. But then, a couple of Leviathans had come slithering out, and they were eyeing him speculatively. Leviathans. Great. Lucifer had forgotten about those guys. God's oldest, original monsters. They dated back as far as Lucifer himself, and Castiel, and Crowley. God had ostensibly created them to keep a balance between light and dark, and good and evil. Once the First Murder had been perpetrated, paving the way for all evil acts to follow, God had realized that even though his creations were beautiful, they were imperfect. If there was a yin, there had to be a yang. So, along had come the Leviathans. But once they had begun to roam the Earth and feed, their appetites had become so voracious that even God Himself became frightened of what they might do if things were allowed to continue unchecked. He was reluctant to destroy them, though, believing they still had a purpose. God had always been a bit of a pack rat that way; once He created something, He was extremely loath to destroy it. Maybe that explained why He had locked Lucifer away in a cage instead of just smiting him out of existence, which was what He actually should have done at the beginning. So God had created Purgatory and installed the Leviathans there. Then, as each species and genus of monster metamorphed over the centuries, once they were killed by Hunters, they would go there as well. There, they would all battle it out for eternity, and if a creature was killed there, eventually it would regenerate, and the process would start all over again. Some kinds of monsters were weaker than others, and they were easier to kill. In any event, they all had a "survival first" attitude. Vampires and werewolves tended to hang out in packs for ease of hunting, but there was an inherent danger there. Infighting would frequently break out to determine the Alpha of the group. Leviathans tended to stay apart and independent of each other for that very reason. If they had to team up to take down a particularly slippery enemy, as they'd had to do in the case of the Winchesters, they would. But otherwise, it was every entity for him-or-herself. They were equal opportunity whenever mealtime rolled around.

Did Lucifer really want Leviathans running around loose on the Earth? The short answer was no. They truly were voracious, and they were almost impossible to kill. He'd wanted the God Squad to be set upon, distracting them from the Tablet quest, and with any luck, some of them would die in Romania. And yes, he'd known they were going to Romania. How did he know? Because Luke had been talking to Mark, and he had let that slip. Luke still thought that Lucifer was in Heaven, and he had expressed his astonishment to Mark that Castiel would have the utter nerve to continue his pursuit of the Tablets with the Master in the High Office. Master, indeed, Lucifer had thought scornfully. Luke had stuck a knife in his back and opened a wound a mile wide by blabbing about the damn Tablets in the first place, and now that he thought the Devil was still in the ultimate seat of power, Luke was trying to ingratiate himself again. Naturally, Lucifer had instructed Mark not to say anything about the fact that the Boss had been booted out of Heaven by the realm's most annoying Angels.

So a few Leviathans had been allowed to slip through, but Lucifer now told Jason and Mark that he didn't want any more of that particular flavour coming out. They were almost impossible to get rid of. They had super strength and could regenerate themselves, possess other entities, or shapeshift. They could be temporarily incapacitated by pouring bleach on them or beheading them, but even a good decapitation wouldn't keep a Leviathan down for long. If the head was left anywhere in the vicinity of the body, it would simply reattach itself. Lucifer had originally been in favour of a few Leviathans being loosed upon the intrepid group, because they had a well-known hatred for Angels. But he didn't feel like dealing with too many of them afterwards, either. If a few of them were to team up, they might even be able to consume Lucifer himself. And they were almost impossible to deal with permanently. If you were lucky, a group of them, if together for too long, would set upon each other and consume each other, leaving just one Alpha Leviathan to handle. But then, you had one Alpha Leviathan to deal with, and the only way to kill it was a real pain in the butt. You had to take the bone of a righteous mortal and soak it in the Blood of the Fallen. Lucifer's own blood would qualify, of course, but he had no intention of bleeding, not if he could help it. He also knew that the blood of another Alpha monster could be used. That would probably be the neatest, cleanest solution. Once Castiel's merry little band was taken care of, one way or another, there would still be some mopping up to be done on Earth, to get rid of the monsters they were letting loose now.

Crowley's blood could also serve, if Lucifer's henchmen couldn't get their hands on an Alpha monster. But he wished them luck getting that. Maybe he would send Mark. If the Gospel writer emerged from that encounter alive, Lucifer might have some hope for him, after all.

"I'm going to take off now," Lucifer told his underlings. "Let a couple of dozen more through, then seal it back up. No more Leviathans, though. They're too hard to handle."

He was just about to wink out when a familiar face stepped through the Portal. "Well, well, look who the cat dragged out," Lucifer said. "Hello, Paul."

Rowena had been pondering her next move for a while now, and she'd been at a loss as to exactly what to do with herself. Playing with Chuck had been fun, and their couple of days together had served to work out whatever sexual frustrations she might have had. But after that, she'd been at loose ends again. What was she after? What did she want to accomplish?

Now that she'd had her brief flings with Sam and Chuck, Rowena realized how much she missed Bobby. He was the only man she'd ever really cared about. She knew what everyone thought about her; that she was heartless and selfish, but that simply wasn't true. It was just that any other man that Rowena had ever been with suffered by comparison. Bobby had been just the right combination of masterful and malleable, and he was the only man that Rowena had ever truly loved.

A couple of nights ago, she had been dozing, and she'd suddenly sat upright. Her Bobby was nearby, and he was a human again! When she had performed the marriage ritual one night a few years back, Rowena had cast a spell which would enable her to see Bobby in her dreams whenever her subconscious was thinking of him. When he'd been killed and had become an Angel, the spell had been nullified, of course. But now, she was sure that she had been able to feel him. How was that possible?

So she'd gotten out of bed and cooked up a location spell, but the spell had come up empty. Curious. Had she just wanted to see him so badly that she'd imagined the whole thing? But then, suddenly, there he was, in the back seat of the Winchesters' car. That explained it, then. He'd been in their precious bunker. She couldn't access the bunker at all any more, not even through the mirror. They must have put some pretty heavy-duty protections on the place now. Not that she could blame them, with Lucifer still out there. Then the car had pulled up in front of a lovely house, and she heard Bobby and the brothers mentioned that the home belonged to Castiel and Gail, the newlywed Angels. Bobby was angry that Lucifer had kicked him out of Heaven and transformed him back into a human, and he had also been afraid for an Angel named Patricia, who had been left there alone with Lucifer. Patricia? Hmmm.  
Then the men had gone into the house, and Rowena couldn't see them anymore. Castiel would have all of the protections on his house too, of course. But that little glimpse had told Rowena all she needed to know. Her Bobby was a human again, and he was back on Earth now. He may not exactly be overjoyed to see her, but Rowena was pretty sure she could get Bobby to see things her way. All she would need was a little alone time with him, and a bottle or two of bourbon. Whoever this Patricia was, Rowena was sure that she presented no real challenge.

So Rowena had continued to watch out for Bobby, and even though he spent the majority of his time within the confines of the bunker, she had seen him exiting the bunker's garage one night in one of the Winchesters' other cars. He'd helped himself to the vehicle the night before the group was due to leave for Romania, while the other humans were sleeping. Rowena had watched avidly, curious to see where he was going. Bobby had driven to a bar and had a couple of belts, and then he'd driven to a little chapel near the bunker, slipped the lock, and sat in one of the pews with his head bowed. Rowena couldn't hear what was going on in his head, of course, but she could only assume that he was praying. But the fact that he'd gone to a bar first was encouraging to Rowena. Apparently, Bobby wasn't so holy now that he couldn't be tempted.

After a few minutes of quiet contemplation, Bobby had lifted his head and said, "Please watch over us in Romania, and please help me to help Cas get everyone out alive."

Rowena had smiled. Another Tablet mission, no doubt. You had to hand it to them; they never gave up. Rowena no longer cared whether Lucifer won or not, she just wanted to see Bobby, while he could still be gotten to.

She threw a few things in her satchel. It was a good thing that she had a few wraps with her. It had been centuries since she'd been there last, but she seemed to remember that Transylvania was very nippy at this time of year.

Bobby had relented before they'd left for Romania, when Riley had taken him aside and asked him if he could possibly assign another Angel to stay with him here in the bunker. Riley knew that there were extra protections on the place, but he'd never been responsible for the safety of any humans before, and he was feeling insecure about it. But he didn't want to say anything to Cas, because he didn't want his hero to think less of him.

Bobby had told Riley to contact Ethan on Angel Radio and find out if Ethan could send any of his recruits down. Ethan had assured him that someone would be down soon. Then it was time for the group to leave, and Riley waited nervously. Then, a few minutes later, Ethan himself popped into the bunker.

"Hi, Ethan," Riley said, rushing up to him. "How's it going? Where's your man?" Or woman, he guessed he should have added. It was a good thing Gail hadn't heard that; he knew how big she was on gender equality.

"I decided to come down myself," Ethan told Riley in a serious, officious tone, and Riley beamed. The Head of Law Enforcement, here to support him. Now Riley felt a lot better.

In truth, Ethan had no one to send. He'd only had a handful of recruits left, and when Lucifer had taken over Heaven, they had all quit in terror. So, Ethan was the last man standing. It served him right, really; he was the one who had paved the way for Lucifer to enter Heaven in the first place. Still, after these missions were over, he and Cas were going to have to have a very serious discussion about what they were going to do, going forward.

"Robbie's in-home school with Tommy right now, and Barry's in the kitchen," Riley told Ethan. "Want to watch some TV?"

Ethan shrugged. "Might as well," he told the younger Angel.

Riley already had the remote in his hand, so he switched on the TV and sat down on the couch in Cas's usual spot. He smiled to himself. Cas had shown a lot of confidence in Riley by leaving him here to look after things. He fantasized about some day, hopefully in the not too distant future, training under Castiel for service to Heaven. Riley couldn't wait until the day he would be allowed to go out on missions with Cas and fight side-by-side with him. Riley started to fantasize that Lucifer was menacing Gail. Cas was fighting the Devil, but Lucifer knocked Cas into the wall, and he thought he was going to get away with abducting Gail until Riley stepped up and stabbed Lucifer with his blade. Then the Devil was dead, and Cas was congratulating Riley on his bravery. Cas was shaking his hand as Gail gave Riley a hug, and a peck on the cheek. Maybe Cas would even recommend to Bobby that Riley receive a medal for service rendered to Heaven.

Since Riley was lost in his fantasy with the TV remote in his hand, Ethan was stuck watching the news. He didn't really care that much, but he'd been more of a movie fan when he'd been alive. The news was really depressing at times, but at least there was some variety.

A story came on about a young woman and a small boy who had died suddenly and tragically in Philadelphia. That was where Ethan had lived, and Karen and his son still lived there. As Ethan watched, appalled, the anchorman said that the woman and the boy had been standing on a platform waiting for the El train, and a man had come out of nowhere and pushed them onto the tracks, into the path of the oncoming train. The reporter said they had some footage that had been taken by the security camera at the station. It would be disturbing for viewers to watch, but the police had authorized its release in hopes that someone could come forward and identify the assailant.

Ethan watched, astonished, as the video came on. Sure enough, it depicted a woman standing on the platform holding a small boy's hand. An instant later, a man appeared seemingly out of nowhere and rushed up to both humans, shoving them into the path of the oncoming train. Then the assailant had turned in the direction of the camera for a moment, and Ethan noted with a start that the man's eyes were black. A Demon!

But there was another thing Ethan had noticed that was far more upsetting to him. The video had been so brief that he hadn't had the chance to verify what it was that he thought he'd seen. There was no way; he must have only imagined it, because the mention of Philadelphia had gotten him thinking about them, of course. That had to be it. It had to be a pure coincidence that the woman had looked remarkably like Karen.

"I am Klara. Welcome to our hotel," the proprietor greeted the humans and the Angels. "You are here just in time for supper. If you'd like to take a seat in the dining room, our server will be with you shortly."

They all thanked her, smiling. Tommy had been right; she was a plump, grandmotherly type. She had checked them in herself and given them all rooms on the 3rd Floor.

"We'll just drop off our bags and freshen up, and we'll be right there," Bobby told her on behalf of the group.

They all walked up the stairs. The hotel was a sprawling structure with only the three floors; two floors of rooms, the lobby, the Weapons Museum attached to the other side of the lobby, and the adjoining restaurant. There was no elevator. But the stairs were lushly carpeted and the floors fairly close together, so no one minded.

"Are you guys coming to the dining room, or are you hanging out the Do Not Disturb?" Sam asked Cas and Gail, half-jokingly.

Cas gave him a brief smile. "We'll drop off our bags and be down in a moment."

"Can I talk to you for a second, Cas?" Bobby asked him.

"Here, give me your bag, sweetie," Gail said to Cas. "I'll unpack for us, and I'll meet you back downstairs in a few minutes."

"Are you sure?" he asked her.

"Sure, I'm sure," she replied. "Here. Gimme it." She took the bag out of his hand before he had a chance to protest again, and she continued on to their room.

"Come on, let's go," Dean said to the men. He'd already given his bag to Sam, who had offered to do the same thing Gail was doing. "I'm dying for a cold beer."

"We just left the bunker five minutes ago, and it was mid-morning there," Jody pointed out. "Yeah, but it's suppertime here," Dean retorted. "One of the perks of international travel."

Jody rolled her eyes. "Here, give me your bag," she said to Frank. "Get us all a table, and I'll be there in a minute."

"I think Klara's kind of sweet on you, Dean," Frank said, elbowing the elder Winchester in the ribs. "If you play your cards right, maybe you can get some special treatment."

Dean grinned. "Maybe we'll get Chuck to take one for the team. You've been wanting a girlfriend, right, Chuck?"

Chuck gave him a baleful look. But he also knew the dynamic well enough by now to know that Dean didn't usually bother teasing people he disliked, so that gave Chuck some hope. Maybe he'd just been around the group so long that he was starting to grow on them, like a fungus, or something. At this point, he would take whatever he could get. He was still feeling bad enough about the way he had acted while he'd been under that spell.

As the men started back down the hall to the stairs, Gail opened her and Cas's room with the key and took their bags inside, putting them on the bed. It was an ordinary enough hotel room, with a large bed, a cabinet with a TV in it, and a dresser. The room felt a little stuffy, so she crossed to the curtains and drew them open. There was a small terrace outside, and a sliding balcony door. She slid the door open. There. That was better. She could already feel a waft of cool air coming into the room. She would leave it open for a couple of minutes while she unpacked, just to get some fresh air in the room. Then she supposed she had better close and lock it. Even though most of their enemies were otherworldly beings who could get in anyway if they really wanted to, Cas might freak out if she left it open.

She unzipped their bags and took out a few items of clothing that needed to be hung up. She was just attaching a pair of Cas's pants to a hanger when she thought she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned quickly to look at the window. An errant gust of wind was moving the curtains.

Gail smiled. She'd seen too many movies. She turned back to the closet.

"Hi, Gail," Jason said from behind her. "Where's your husband?"

Jason had transported a dozen or so monsters to Transylvania from the Portal, leaving Mark in charge of who, or what, else to let through before he closed the gate. Lucifer had gone back to headquarters. Jason had made sure to transport the three Leviathans separately. He didn't want those bastards ganging up on him. Likewise with the other vampires. Then there were a few ordinary monsters left, and several Demons, including Paul. Jason had been surprised to see his former compatriot coming out of Purgatory. He'd thought for sure that Paul would have just gone back to Hell. But curiously, there had been a few Demons in that assorted box of chocolates that had come out of the Portal. He'd better not call them that, though, or Paul would probably get angry, thinking it was a racial slur. Paul thought everything was a racial slur.

When Paul had first emerged from the Portal, even Lucifer had been surprised. He'd asked Paul how he'd come to be in Purgatory.

"Beats me," Paul had said, shrugging.

Lucifer had stared at him for a moment, then said, "Well, welcome back to the fold, then. You'll be glad to know that I'm sending all of you to see Castiel and the God Squad. A thousand points and a gold star for every one of them you're able to kill."

Castiel, Paul had thought. Good. They were due for a little chat. Ever since Paul had blown himself up in Paris, he had had to fight tooth and nail every day in Purgatory, and he was fed up with it. While he'd initially been happy that he had not just gone directly back to Hell, Paul was out now, and he intended to stay out. Cas had better hook him up, or Paul might have to consider earning a few of those gold stars for Lucifer.

Just after Jason and Paul had left with the last group, an ordinary-looking male stepped out of the Portal, regarding Mark with a bleary expression.

"Where am I?" he asked the Gospel writer.

"Earth," Mark replied, bemused. He looked the guy up and down. "And what are you?"

Kurt shrugged. "I don't know. Some black guy shot me, and the next thing I know, I'm running around in a forest, fighting for my life. I never killed anyone before, but I sure had to learn fast. I was at the stream washing up and I saw some wavy lines just above the rocks. So I went up there to investigate, and now, here I am."

"How do you feel about going on a special assignment for my boss?" Mark asked him.

Kurt shrugged again. "Hey, if it'll get me out of there for a while, I'm all for it."

"Wait right here, then," Mark told him. "We'll let about a half dozen more out, and then I'll close up."

"Find the news on another station," Ethan said to Riley.

The younger Angel was still lost in his daydream. Ethan repeated his request, and then he shouted it.

Riley came out of his reverie. "Why?" he asked Ethan.

"Never mind, just do it!" Ethan exclaimed, agitated. "They just showed a video that I need to see again!"

Riley was puzzled. "Oh. Well, in that case, we can just rewind it. Hang on." He pointed the remote at the TV and pushed the Rewind button. Incredibly, the images started moving backwards.

"Since when?" Ethan marveled aloud. "Since when can you rewind live TV?"

Riley smiled. "You've been in Heaven for a few years now, haven't you? Technology moves fast these days. I wonder what they'll come up with in the next year or so, now that I'm not in the loop any more. Maybe we'd better come down here from time to time just to keep up. Here we go. Is this what you want?" He stopped the program just before the video of the incident was about to be shown. Apparently, a part of him had been paying attention.

Ethan moved closer to the TV. "Go," he said to Riley. As the image came on the screen, Ethan peered intently at it. His heart fell into his stomach. It was Karen and his son. "My God," Ethan breathed. "Oh, my God!" he screamed.

Cas got the call on Angel Radio, and his head snapped up. It was Ethan, he was in the bunker, and it sounded as if he was crying. Please come immediately.

Gail still hadn't come down to the dining room, but Ethan sounded extremely upset, so Cas asked the group to let her know where he had gone, when she came down. Cas didn't really think there had been an incursion into the bunker, due to its heavy protection. He imagined that this was regarding another matter, so he decided just to go alone. He walked into a stall in the restaurant's washroom and winked over to the bunker.

Gail's heart stopped. Jason! If she wasn't so scared, she would have made a quip about how cliche this was. No sooner had she arrived in Transylvania than a vampire had flown in the window.

She called for Cas, but her call was placed at the exact same moment as Ethan's panicked call, and the emotion associated with his call overrode hers. So Cas headed to the bunker, unaware of what was happening in his own room upstairs.

Mark let a few more out, and then he closed up the Portal. Kurt, two Demons, a werewolf, and two vampires. There. Together with the ones that Jason had already transported, this assortment should be plenty. He grabbed a Demon, a vampire, and Kurt, then nodded to the other Demon, telling It where they were going. The two groups vanished.

Jason rushed Gail, seizing her. She'd taken her blade out and was slashing at him with it, but he just laughed and knocked it out of her hand. Why wasn't Cas coming?

Jason put his hand on her forehead, and the room started to spin. What was this, now? He picked her up. She tried calling for Cas again, but suddenly, she couldn't remember how to do it.

"It turns out that Alpha vampires can mesmerize their prey," Jason said, almost happily. "I guess I've killed so many that I'm an Alpha now. I've eaten a lot of meat and potatoes; now it's time for dessert. But I don't want to be interrupted. Wait; I have an idea."

He flew out the window, carrying her in his arms. They floated towards the ground. The hotel had a lush back lawn, and he laid her down on the grass.

"There," he said, smiling. "Now I can take my time." He bent his head to her throat.

"I'm so sorry, Ethan," Cas said. He was heartbroken for his friend.

"Why?" Ethan agonized. "Why would he do that?"

Cas frowned. "Believe it or not, that would be his perverse way of honouring the deal. He had promised you that your wife and child would be immortal, and now, he has made it so. They will be Angels."

Ethan's jaw dropped open. In his shock, he hadn't even considered that. "So does that mean they'll be in Heaven now, with me?" he said, with hope in his voice.

Riley had been looking back and forth from one Angel to the other during this exchange, and now he started to smile. Oh, thank God. Poor Ethan had been so upset.

"Well, theoretically," Cas told him. He went on to explain the situation. As there was no God at the moment, they would likely go directly to the Garden to await ascension.

Ethan was frustrated. "So they're going to be stuck wandering around this Garden? For how long?"

"Until we have another God in Heaven," Cas replied. "I'm sorry, Ethan, but that's the way these things work. Once we dispose of Lucifer, we'll have the election, and we'll be able to sort everyone out then. But Lucifer needs to be the priority now. OK, Ethan?" Cas put his hand on his friend's shoulder.

Ethan let out a breath. "OK, Cas. If you say so. I'll just have to try to stay calm and have faith."

Cas's hand squeezed his shoulder for a moment. He could definitely relate to how Ethan was feeling right now. When Gail had been killed in Las Vegas, Cas had flipped out, but at least he had been able to go to the Garden and collect her right away. Bobby had been God then, and he had been in charge. He'd enabled Cas to go to the Garden and get her. But now, until Heaven had someone in the High Office, the Garden was off limits.

"Thanks for coming, Cas, and for explaining that to me," Ethan said to him. "I feel a little bit better now. I'm sorry to have panicked like that."

"It's perfectly understandable," Cas told him. "But I'd better get back now." He said his goodbyes to the other men, squeezed Ethan's shoulder one more time, then popped back out.

Mark deposited Kurt and the others in the forest at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains.

"What are we doing here?" Kurt said, looking around.

"Your targets are in the area," Mark told him. "But the Angels are shielded, and our Master can't come here, because the Tablet wards him from doing so."

Kurt looked at him. "I didn't understand a word of what you just said."

Mark sighed. "Look, you were a human until just recently, right? That's why I thought you might be useful. If you know how to use a computer, you might be able to find out exactly where they are. The Angels are Castiel and Gail, but you'll probably have more luck looking for Sam and Dean Winchester, because the Angels won't have a last name, or identification."

Kurt's eyes narrowed. Cas and Gail, Sam and Dean? It had to be a coincidence, didn't it? But what a hell of a coincidence. When the black guy had confronted Kurt, right before he'd shot him, he'd said something about Heaven, and Angels, but Kurt couldn't really remember exactly what he'd said, because he'd been too busy concentrating on the gun in the guy's hand.

"What do these Angels and Winchesters look like?" Kurt asked Mark.

Mark gave him a strange look, but he described them. Kurt couldn't believe it. Cas was an Angel? That crazy, racist bastard? When Kurt had seen on the news that their clubhouse had exploded, Cas had been the first guy he'd thought of. He was the only person Kurt knew of who would be insane enough to do something like that. It had been a lucky break for Kurt when his Uncle Benoit had asked his nephew to run some errands for him that afternoon. That meant that both men had been absent from the building when it had blown up. But Kurt's luck had run out a short while later, when he'd been shot to death. He'd tried telling the guy that he had never killed anybody, even anyone of a different race, and it was actually the truth. According to the rules of initiation, he was supposed to have killed one, but Benoit was his Uncle, and so he had fast-tracked Kurt past that requirement and made him a full-fledged member. That was why Kurt had gone to Purgatory when he'd been killed by Henri. At the point of death, every being was judged by their deeds, not their ideologies. Therefore, Kurt had found himself in Purgatory and not in Hell, where Etienne and most of the others had gone.

But he was back on Earth now, and apparently Kurt was being given an opportunity to dole out a little payback for the murders of his comrades. He may have been a wanna-be when he'd left the Earth, but he was returning a seasoned killer, with an axe to grind.

"Leave it to me," Kurt said to Mark, smiling widely.

Cas walked from the mens' room to their table in the dining room. Everyone had drinks in front of them now, even Chuck. Apparently, Klara had insisted, and mindful of Tommy's advice about etiquette, Chuck had asked for a beer.

Gail was not at the table. "She hasn't come down yet," Frank told him. "What's she doing, ironing all your clothes, too? How many outfits did you bring?"

Sam smiled. "If she was a human," he said, lowering his voice, "I'd think she was sneaking in a nap."

Cas didn't like it. Everyone else was here now. "I'll be right back," he said. He turned around to exit the dining room and bumped into Klara.

"I saw that you didn't have a drink," she said to Cas. "What can we get for you?"

"Nothing, thanks," Cas said, attempting to maneuver around her.

Klara frowned. "Nonsense. I won't hear of it. It's a long journey here from the United States. You must be thirsty, and hungry, too. Look at you. You're much too skinny!" She grabbed Cas around the waist with both hands. "In fact, we're going to give you double portions."

Dean nearly snorted his beer out of his nose. The look on Cas's face was hilarious.

"Pile the food on his wife's plate, too," Frank said in a loud voice. "She's way too scrawny."

"That's an excellent idea," Klara remarked. "She is a tiny little thing." She looked past Cas at the table. "Where is she?"

"I'm just on my way to see," Cas told her. He gently disengaged her hands from him. "Please bring us each a glass of white wine, and we'll be right back." He rushed out of the room, through the lobby, and up the stairs. Once he was out of sight, Cas winked himself into their room.

She wasn't there. How could she not be there? He looked in the bathroom, but it was empty. Then he noticed that the window was open, and there appeared to be a terrace outside. Was she getting a breath of fresh air?

"Gail?" Cas said, approaching the open window. He looked outside, but she wasn't on the terrace, either.

His heart started to hammer in his chest. He stepped back into the room, but there was nowhere else that she could possibly be. She was just...gone. He looked at the bags on the bed and noticed that she had hung a few items of their clothing in the closet. She must have been interrupted in the midst of unpacking. What the hell had he been thinking, letting her come here by herself? Obviously, he HADN'T been thinking. He had been complacent.

Cas sent out a message to her on their frequency, received no answer, and then repeated the message. Nothing. What was he supposed to do now?

The second round of drinks was coming now, accompanied by baskets of bread, tubs of butter, and a hearty soup for the first course of the meal.

"I almost hope the Tablet's not here in the hotel," Frank said, slathering butter on a piece of bread. "I really want to see that castle."

"I can't wait to see the Weapons Museum," Dean remarked. He took a healthy swig of his second beer. He normally didn't eat soup, but he thought he might have to make an exception in this case. It actually smelled really good.

Frank was dunking his bread in his soup now. "I'm with you there," he said, nodding. "I hope they have some really weird-ass things in there. I can't wait to bug Cas about them. It's fun to give him a hard time."

"Speaking of which, what's keeping those two?" Bobby asked the table in general. He was digging in to his soup. There were quite a few things he'd found annoying about being a human again, but he'd also missed the simple pleasures of a good drink and a hearty meal, and he intended to enjoy both.

Dean snorted. "Cas and Gail, alone in a hotel room? Do the math. I'll bet you a million bucks we don't see them for another hour, minimum."

"I'll take some of that action," Sam said, pretending to reach into his pocket.

Bobby rolled his eyes. "What's wrong with those two? Every other couple alive would be taking each other for granted by now."

"Angels don't have much else to do," Chuck remarked, shrugging. "Maybe if we could eat, or drink, or sleep..."

"Take up a hobby," Bobby said sharply.

"Speaking of which, I can't wait until this whole Lucifer thing is over, for multiple reasons," Dean said. "Sammy and I are gonna go out on the road for about a year, after this. Do you know how long it's been since we had a nice, normal monster to kill?"

"Amen," Frank said, extending his hand for a high-five.

"Cheer up. Maybe you'll run into some vampires here," Chuck piped up. "You're in the right place for them, aren't you?"

"That's a myth," Sam said, swallowing a mouthful of bread. "It's only true in the movies, and in cheap paperback books."

Chuck eyed Sam suspiciously, wondering if that had been a shot at him. But all of the humans were enjoying their soup now, even Dean, and nobody was smirking at him, so maybe he was just being overly sensitive. It was kind of weird being the only Angel in the group at the moment, and it was really weird seeing Bobby eat and drink after all this time.

As if on cue, Cas came rushing into the room. "Gail's missing," he told the group.

"Missing?" Frank said, putting his spoon down. "What do you mean, 'missing'?"

"Just what I said, Frank!" Cas exclaimed. "She's not in our room!"

"That's because she's right there," Dean said, pointing behind Cas. He rolled his eyes and went back to his soup. Poor Gail. Sometimes Dean wondered how she could stand it. If Cas didn't clap his eyes on her every second of every day, he freaked out. The Gail that Dean knew was more independent than that, and Cas had better calm down, or he was gonna receive an earful.

Cas wheeled around. Oh, thank God. He rushed to her, taking her in his arms. "I went upstairs, but you weren't in our room," he said, kissing her face and hugging her to him.

"I'm fine, Cas," Gail said mildly. "I just wanted some fresh air, so I stepped outside for a minute." At least, she assumed that was what she had done. Truthfully, she couldn't remember, exactly. She'd been in their room unpacking, and the next thing she knew, she was outside on the hotel grounds, wandering around. She remembered thinking that their room was stuffy, then hanging up a few clothes, and that was it.

Cas looked at her. A bit strange, perhaps, but she was here now, and she was fine. He took her hand. It was cold. "Come and sit down," he said to her, leading her to the table. Frank and Jody had left the two seats next to them open, and Cas pulled out the chair next to Frank for Gail to sit in, then he seated himself next to her.

"Try to have a bite or two of the soup," Jody told the Angels. "It's hot, and it's delicious."

Cas put his spoon in his bowl of soup. It was thick, almost like a stew, and he could smell lamb, and potatoes, and vegetables. He was normally indifferent when it came to food, since he'd gone most of his existence without it. But the aroma was very strong, and it invoked a real sense of nostalgia in him now, although he wasn't sure exactly why.

He turned to Gail. "Try some, my love. I think you'll really like it," he told her. He raised his spoon.

"If you start feeding her, I swear, I'm gonna hurl," Dean remarked.

Cas raised an eyebrow. "I was actually going to try some myself, Dean," he told his friend. "Gail is a grown woman, and she is not injured, or sick. She is perfectly capable of feeding herself."

Frank smirked. "He's right about that. I tried to feed her once when she was young, and she smacked the spoon right out of my hand. I never did find the damn thing."

"You're lucky," Gail retorted, taking a piece of bread out of the basket. "It could have gone right up your butt." She started to butter the bread calmly.

Jody stared at her sister-in-law. She knew that Gail and Frank got like this sometimes, but she found that a bit disconcerting. "How old was she at the time?" she asked her husband.

Frank grinned. "Oh, I dunno. Probably about three, or four," he replied. "I know she wasn't in school yet. My mom was busy doing laundry, and she asked me to hurry feeding time along. So, I tried to force the issue."

"And you see how well that worked out for you," Gail said, looking sidelong at Frank with a sly smile.

"You were a bit of a brat, weren't you?" Sam teased her. He looked at Cas. "I'll bet you're glad she's calmed down a bit."

"Oh, she was feisty, all right," Frank said, taking a sip of his beer. "She was a little better behaved once she discovered her books, but she still had her moments."

"What do you have to say about that, Cas?" Dean teased their friend. "I'll bet you didn't know you married a Demon."

Gail had just taken a sip of her wine, and she swallowed it too fast. She started to cough and sputter. Cas dropped his spoon and began to rub her back. "Are you all right?" he asked her.

She gestured, continuing to cough. Tears sprang to her eyes. "Just - went down - the wrong way," Gail gasped.

Cas glared at Dean for a moment, but then he realized it wasn't really Dean's fault. He'd only been trying to be funny.

"Come on, Cas, she'll be fine," Dean protested, seeing the glare. "We've all done that before. I was only making a joke. She's way too nice to be a Demon. Now you, on the other hand, I could totally see."

"She'd still kick your ass, though," Frank mumbled, his mouth full of bread again. Everyone at the table laughed.

Gail had finally finished coughing, so she took another tentative sip of wine. She still had tears in her eyes, but now, new ones were threatening to form there. This was pretty much what she was hoping that Christmas dinner would be like. Their loved ones gathered around, teasing each other, just enjoying being together. They were all looking at her and Cas with nothing but affection. He had never been a Demon, and neither had she. She was still trying to wrap her head around that. She looked at Cas's face. Now that he could see that she was all right, his eyes were shining with happiness. He was feeling the same way as Gail was, she knew. Even though they were here on an extremely serious mission, it was truly wonderful to be here together like this, with their family and friends, and to realize that they had always been this happy, and this close. Everyone thought the idea of Cas being a Demon was funny, because he'd never been one.

Castiel knew that he'd been very gullible in the past, and that character flaw had often led to disaster. He had been taken in by the same person that he was so anxious to believe now. But this felt different. Every time he turned around, he was receiving independent corroboration that Metatron was telling the truth this time.

Cas looked into Gail's eyes and smiled. I know, he said to her non-verbally. It's still so hard to believe. Isn't it fantastic? It's so fantastic, Cas, she replied. We must be the luckiest Angels ever.

Jason stood on the back lawn of the hotel, watching the sun go down. At the moment, he was as content as it was possible for an Alpha vampire to be. Her blood had a very unique taste, and he had enjoyed it immensely. It was hard to articulate exactly what she had tasted like. Both rich and light, sweet, but not cloying. Like the perfect dessert after the perfect meal. If Castiel had ever been a vampire, which of course he had not been, Jason could understand that Gail's husband's appetite for her would have been insatiable. It was like sitting down to binge-watch your favourite TV series with a pie in one hand, and a fork in the other. By the time you knew it, all that was left were crumbs, and still, you wanted just a little bit more. But Castiel wouldn't know what that was like; at least, not in regard to her blood. But they had all let him continue to believe that he had been the monster, just because it had been so damn much fun.

But it was strange, too. Jason had tasted blood that had had a lot of similarities to Gail's once, and only once. It was when he had ripped out the throat of that guy who had been trying to assassinate Lucifer. Oliver. If Jason didn't know better, he could almost swear that Gail and Oliver were related somehow, based on the similar characteristics of their blood. But he didn't see how that could be. As far as Jason knew, Gail had only met the psychic once, when the Winchester brothers had taken her to his place. Up until just recently, of course, she'd thought that she'd had many more dealings with Oliver, in the pursuit of a fictional cure for Castiel. But Jason knew that whole thing was just a lie, a fairy tale cooked up by Metatron and planted in hers and Castiel's heads, back at the cabin. Jason had played along because he had enjoyed seeing the two of them agonizing over it. But he now knew that Metatron had finally come clean with the couple. Jason had seen that in Gail's mind, when he'd put his hand on her forehead. She was still confused about it, and a part of her was still doubtful, but she mainly had herself convinced that Metatron had been telling the truth, mainly because she needed so badly to believe it.

If Jason had cared to, he could have provided the couple with corroboration. He hadn't gone to Purgatory to assist Castiel in the provision of a non-existent cure for a bogus disease. He'd been murdered in his cell in Heaven's prison by a hooded figure who had incapacitated Ethan, and then modified the young guard's memory. The conspiracy apparently went way higher on the food chain than even Metatron was aware of, because Metatron was out of the loop now. Jason himself had no idea who had killed him, he only knew that it had not been Castiel. He'd fought alongside Cas many times, and the killer's vessel had a different shape, and had been slightly shorter. In any event, that was how Jason had found himself in Purgatory. He had met up with Benny and his pack there, and the rest was history.

Jason licked his lips now, savouring the taste of her one more time. He couldn't wait to feed on Gail again. He had used restraint and finesse, and the marks on her throat would be barely visible. He had planted the suggestions in her mind to clean the grass stains off her clothes, and to continue to wear high-collared sweaters. That shouldn't be a problem; the weather was growing ever colder, and the forecast called for light snow. Likely the only one who would see her neck at close range would be Castiel, but it was night now, and the lighting would be dim. Tomorrow, Gail had plans to shop for a winter jacket, and Jason had planted the suggestion in her mind to purchase some skin cream at the same time. She would rub it on her face and neck every day, under the guise of a beauty regimen, and it would serve to obscure his marks on her neck.

As of this moment, Jason was unsure if he wanted to turn Gail, or not. There were certain aspects about that thought which appealed to him, not the least of which was that it would crush Castiel. On the other hand, she would probably just be crazy enough to turn around and infect Castiel, and if she did that, Jason would be saddled with him for all eternity. Castiel the Angel was bad enough; Castiel the Alpha vampire, with a vendetta against Jason, and an eternity in which to carry it out? No, thanks.

Still, Jason knew that he could feed on Gail a number of times before that even became an issue. She would begin to exhibit a few symptoms after one or two more feedings, but the distractions that were in store for the group courtesy of the assortment of monsters let loose from Purgatory should take the focus off of her very nicely.

Jason pushed off and flew away from the hotel grounds.

The jokes were flying fast and furious around the table now.

Chuck had asked for the drob de miel, just to be funny, and because they were all curious. He wouldn't be eating it anyway, but that way, they could at least see what it looked like.

Klara had beamed when Chuck had made his request. Not too many Americans knew about the dish, she'd said, and those that did turned their noses up once they found out what was in it.

"That's because many...modern Americans have never farmed before," Cas said. Phew. That was close. He'd almost said "humans". He smiled charmingly at Klara. "Many of them aren't used to eating the organs of an animal. But I would be very happy to try it, if you would be so kind as to bring me some, as well."

Klara's smile widened, and her dimples were showing now. "I would be glad to bring you some of our local dish." She moved to stand behind Cas, and she looked down at the table. Cas had actually eaten his entire bowl of soup, and he'd even had a piece of bread with it. Klara put her hands on his shoulders. "I see you enjoyed the soup," she said to him. Then she looked down at Gail, who had only managed a few bites of hers.

Gail could see where Klara was looking, and she smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry, I guess I don't have much of an appetite tonight," she told Klara. "I guess I'm suffering from jet lag, or something."

Klara nodded sympathetically. Cas's wife was such a cute little thing, with big brown eyes. But she was way too small, and she looked a little bit pale, too. Klara would have to make sure that she had a big breakfast in the morning.

But in the meantime, Klara smacked Cas on the arm, pointing to Gail's bowl of soup. "Help her!" she chided him.

Cas smiled. "Yes, ma'am," he said. He slid Gail's bowl in front of himself and obediently began to eat her soup.

Klara looked at Gail. "I noticed that you went for a walk around the grounds," she said to her. "Did you like my garden? I planted all the flowers there myself. I also grow many of the vegetables you're eating tonight out back, so you know that they are fresh. With winter coming, I picked the last of them earlier this morning."

"You can tell that they're very fresh," Cas remarked, wiping his mouth with his napkin. "My compliments."

Klara was pleased. For such a slender man, he certainly appreciated good home cooking. She was thoroughly charmed by Cas, and by his little wife. She put her hands on his shoulders again. "I'm very glad you like it. And I'm sure you will love the drob de miel. It'll be out shortly. In the meantime, I'll send the server over to fetch you another round." Then she left the table.

Cas had finished Gail's soup now, and he was soaking up the remainder of the broth with another piece of bread. Then he finished his glass of wine. Dean was staring at him. He couldn't remember ever seeing Cas eat like this. Even when he'd been a human in Las Vegas, Cas had eaten, but not this voraciously.

Cas saw Dean looking at him, and he sat back in his chair, smiling. "What?" Cas said to his friend. "It's good." He took Gail's hand. "In fact, I think I might try my hand at growing a few vegetables in the back yard of our house in the spring," he said to her.

Gail smiled. "Go ahead, have at it," she told him. "I have no interest in gardening myself, but I'll bring a trashy novel and a floppy hat and keep you company from the back patio, if you want."

"That would be very nice," Cas said. "I could conjure up some flowers to make things look pretty, too."

Frank was smirking. "Careful; he'll want a flock of sheep next," he told Gail. "It's a slippery slope."

Cas smiled at his brother-in-law. "Now you've spoiled my Christmas surprise," he deadpanned, and everyone laughed.

Then the main dishes came, and Cas dug into his with relish. Chuck looked down at his plate. He supposed it didn't look or smell too bad, but when you knew what the ingredients were, it was a little tougher to imagine actually eating it and enjoying it.

Frank grabbed a fork and reached his arm past Gail towards Cas's plate. "Here, let me try a bit of that," he said to Cas. Cas picked up his plate and extended it closer to Frank. Gail's brother stabbed a piece of food from Cas's plate with his fork and tasted it. He chewed for a minute, swallowed, and said, "That's offal."

Jody threw her fork down on her plate. "How long have you been sitting on that?" she asked him, shaking her head.

Dean started to laugh, and Jody pointed her finger at him. "Don't," she said. "You'll only encourage him."

Cas was smiling at what Frank had said, too. He loved Gail's brother, he loved Jody, and he loved everyone at this table. He also loved their other friends, the ones that weren't here at the moment. He finished his plate and sat back in his chair again, sighing contentedly.

"Boy, Cas, if you keep eating like that, Gail's going to have to start letting your pants out," Chuck said.

"Not to mention that you'll earn Klara's undying love," Sam added, smirking. "It's a good thing you're already married, or she'd probably propose."

Gail laughed. Sam was right; Klara was obviously sweet on Cas and his old-fashioned manners. But she couldn't blame the woman, not one bit. She leaned back and kissed her husband on the cheek. "Don't listen to them," she said to him. "It's nice to see you enjoying a meal."

"Well, I'm certainly done now," Cas told her, putting his napkin on the table. "Now I'm reminded of another reason we hardly ever eat. I feel very full."

"Looks like a night of watching TV then, Gail," Dean teased her. "You can just stay here and drink with us, if you want."

"She'll do no such thing," Cas told him, taking Gail's hand again. "In fact, I think we'll go upstairs and watch some TV right now."

"So that's what you young kids are calling it these days," Frank wisecracked. Then he looked at Jody. "I know, I know. Shut up, Frank," he said, smiling at her.

"Actually, I was going to suggest we might want to watch a little TV, ourselves," she said to her husband, lifting an eyebrow.

Dean rolled his eyes. "OK, whatever. You guys go ahead. Us real men are gonna stay here and drink for a while."

Frank shrugged. "Hey, I'm about to get lucky, and you aren't. I'm OK with that." He grabbed Jody's hand and they rose from the table. Then Frank looked down at Cas and Gail. "Give us five minutes to get upstairs," he told them. "If we walk up at the same time, it'll just be weird."

"Don't worry," Gail said in reply. "The way Cas has been eating, we may just hang out for dessert." Frank and Jody laughed, and they left the table, hand in hand.

The Angels sat and chatted with everyone else for a few more minutes and then they looked at each other and rose from the table together.

"Goodnight, boys," Gail said to them. "We'll meet up in the lobby in the morning for breakfast, and a strategy meeting."

"Bright and early," Cas added. Then the two of them left the dining room.

Dean looked at the other men. "Tuica?" he said, eyebrows raised.

"I'm sorry, just give me a second to put away the rest of our clothes," Gail said to Cas. "I don't know what the heck was going on there. I guess I just wanted the fresh air that badly. Do Angels get hot flashes?" she joked.

"Don't be concerned about that," Cas said to her. "Here, let me unpack, for a change."

"Okie-dokie," Gail said agreeably. She moved over to the window and closed it partway, then drew the drapes. Then she turned around in time to see Cas pick up their bags and toss them on the floor.

"There," he said, grinning at her. "The clothes are taken care of. Now come here, please." He opened his arms, and Gail laughed. She walked over to him.

"I'll look after the clothes later, I promise," he told her, enfolding her in his arms.

"Forget the clothes and give me a kiss," Gail said, still smiling. He kissed her obediently, and when the kiss ended, she looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Do you think we could take this a little further or are you too full from dinner?" she asked him teasingly.

"I could have eaten a seven-course meal, and I still wouldn't be too full to make love to you," he replied.

"Who said anything about making love?" she said, feigning innocence. "Maybe I was just talking about cuddling."

"Oh, we'll be doing that, too," he said to her. He leaned down and kissed her again, opening her mouth with his tongue, slipping his hands under her sweater. Gail made a sound in her throat and she reached for him, but he said, "Wait, please. Let me touch you for a moment." He grabbed the bottom of her sweater and pulled it slowly off her head, dropping it on the floor. Then he resumed lightly touching her, his fingers barely grazing her skin. He bent down again and nuzzled her cheek with his, and then he kissed her neck. Then he stopped.

"What's this?" he asked her softly.

Gail had closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of what he was doing. She opened them now, looking at his face. "What's what?" she asked him curiously.

Cas touched the spot on her neck that he had just kissed. "You have a little red mark here."

"Oh," she said, surprised. "I don't know, Cas. I haven't worn a sweater for a while. Maybe it's irritating my skin, or something."

He peered closer. "I hope you're not getting a rash."

Gail shrugged. "I doubt it. It doesn't itch, or anything. I just have to get used to wearing winter clothes again. Fortunately," she added, smiling again.

Cas nodded. That was likely it, then. Her skin was soft and tender, and wool sweaters could sometimes be a little rough. "We should probably get you some angora sweaters," he told her. "Soft sweaters for soft skin." He resumed what he'd been doing, and a moment later, she said, "Cas, you're driving me nuts. Please, just grab me and kiss me, already."

He smiled. "With pleasure." He kissed her on the mouth and she offered him her tongue. He backed her up to the bed and laid her down, taking off the rest of her clothes.

"I know you like to take your time sometimes, but - " she started to say, but suddenly, he had her legs open and as he touched his tongue to her, she cried out immediately. He pulled her closer to him and used his lips and his tongue on her as she called out his name. He had gotten them both excited by starting off slow, but then, when she'd needed him to be fast, he had done that, too. He was amazing, and he was perfect, and she loved him so much.

They made love for about an hour, and then Cas sighed. "You know, I think I did have too much to eat. Do you mind if we take a break and watch some TV for a while? Let's see what kind of programs they have here. Maybe if we find a vampire movie, you can call Frank's room and tell him," he added, smiling.

"Are you kidding?" she said, laughing. "Jody would kill me!" She moved to get off the bed.

"Where are you going?" Cas asked, curious.

"I want to get a nightshirt," she told him. "Believe it or not, I'm a little chilly."

"We could close the window," he remarked. "Here, I'll close it for you."

"No, Cas. Leave it open," she said, rooting around in her bag. She found a nightshirt and slipped it on over her head. Then she looked at him, smiling. "You'll just have to cuddle me closer, if I get cold." Then she raised an eyebrow to him. "Or take it off of me, if things suddenly get hot."

Cas smiled back at her. "As the expression goes, done, and done. Now, come back to bed, please."

"In a minute," Gail said. She padded to the bathroom and turned on the light, examining her neck in the mirror. She saw what Cas had been talking about. There was a small red spot there.

"What are you doing?" he called out.

Gail switched off the light and emerged from the bathroom. "I was just looking at the spot on my neck you mentioned earlier," she replied, gesturing to it with her hand. "I don't think it's any big deal, I was just curious." She climbed on top of him. "I hope you're still able to love me, now that I've got such a hideous disfigurement," she said dramatically, her mouth twitching.

Cas smiled. She was adorable. "Come here," he said. He kissed her, then helped her to position herself between his legs, leaning back against him, in what she called "prime cuddling position", and then he switched on the TV.

While the Angels watched TV and the men downstairs ordered another round, Frank and Jody were dozing contentedly. Because they were humans, they had neither the ability nor the desire to make love every night, but they enjoyed cuddling just as much as Cas and Gail did. They just didn't go around advertising it.

At the moment, Frank was spooning her, and his hands had been wandering a bit. Now that they'd had a bit of time to digest their dinner, Frank was considering suggesting that they fool around. His hand was currently touching her breast, and Jody was smiling. She'd enjoy that for another minute, and then she would roll over and see what developed.

Suddenly, Frank's hand stopped. "What's that?" he asked his wife.

Jody's smile widened. "If you don't know that by now, I'm afraid I can't help you."

Frank sighed. "Come on, Jodes, I'm being serious. There's something there. A lump, or something. What the hell?"

Jody rolled over to look at her husband. "Relax, Frank," she told him. "I felt it when I was taking a shower a couple of days ago. I was planning to go to the doctor, just to be on the safe side, when we finish this mission and get back home."

"And just when were you gonna tell ME about that?" Frank said, frowning.

Jody shrugged. "With any luck, never. I've had lumps before, Frank. It's not a big deal. I've had the other ones checked out. I even had one removed, once. They looked at it, and it was just a cyst. Nothing to worry about. But I promise you, as soon as we get back to the States, I'll get this new one checked out. Okay?"

Her husband sighed. What was he going to say? Not OK? What choice did he have? But it sounded like Jody had a good handle on it, and that she was being sensible. He knew next to nothing about the subject, just that you shouldn't ignore any abnormalities. But she was clearly on top of it.

"Yeah, OK," he told her. Then he kissed her, and then she touched him, and then his mind was on other things.


	3. Moonlight Drive

Chapter 3 - Moonlight Drive

The next morning, the group gathered in the dining room again for breakfast, and to talk about their strategy going forward.

After the server brought them all coffee and orange juice, Cas said, "As this is one of the possible locations that we have identified as a place where the Tablet might be, we'll start looking here, of course."

"What exactly are we supposed to be looking for?" Frank asked him.

"I don't really know, Frank," Cas said. That was troubling him, too. In the past, they'd had more specific information to go on. Now, they had multiple possible locations, and absolutely no clues as to how or where to start.

"I think we're wasting our time here," Sam said, pouring himself another glass of juice. It was nice to have something with fruit in it, for a change. He had really enjoyed last night's dinner, too. Usually, when he and Dean went on the road, they ate in bars and greasy spoons. "I think it's going to be in the castle," Sam opined.

"Well, we're here now, so we're gonna look here, first," Bobby said irritably. He took a couple of gulps of coffee. It was hot, rich and strong, and he needed it to clear his head. Damn Dean and his damn tuica.

Klara approached the table. "Good morning, everyone," she said to the group. "I have taken the liberty to request the girls to serve you family-style this morning. We have coddled eggs, ham, bacon, sausages, potatoes, peppers, and pancakes."

"There goes my cholesterol," Bobby said, throwing up his hands. But he was looking forward to getting some food in his stomach. Next to hair of the dog, a hearty breakfast was the best thing for you if you were feeling a little rough in the morning.

"What do you say, Cas? Ready to strap on the feedbag again?" Dean joked, reaching for the sugar for his coffee.

Cas smiled. "No, I don't think so, Dean." He patted his stomach. "I had a little bit too much to eat last night."

Frank nudged Gail. "You're lucky he's not a human man. That wouldn't have been pretty."

"Don't be gross," Jody chided her husband. She looked at Gail, lips twitching. "He's not wrong, though."

Gail rolled her eyes. "You're not telling me anything I don't already know. Remember, I shared motel rooms with this guy for years." She jerked her thumb towards Frank.

"Preaching to the choir," Dean said, smirking. He looked at Sam.

"That's one thing I don't miss," Chuck said. He gave his orange juice a tentative sip, then made a face at the strong citrus taste. Gail looked at him and laughed, and he put the glass down, giving her a sheepish grin.

"What are you guys going to do when Klara comes back and sees that you're not eating?" Sam asked the Angels. Then he grinned. "Especially you, Gail. I think she's on a campaign to fatten you and Cas up."

"Lucky your names aren't Hansel and Gretel," Frank quipped. "Then we'd have to question her motives."

Sure enough, when the food arrived, Klara hovered over their table, making sure everyone loaded up their plates. The Angels had no choice but to eat a bit of food from time to time, when they saw her looking their way.

"Oh my God, Cas," Gail said to him after a bit. "I can't eat any more. I'm out of practice."

He thought for a minute. Truthfully, he didn't want to eat any more, either. But he didn't want to offend Klara, either. What could they do?

"Psst," Frank said, gesturing, and Cas leaned forward, across Gail. "In every sitcom I've ever seen, when somebody doesn't want to eat something, they dump the food somewhere. Why don't you just put it in a napkin and take it to the bathroom? Then you can flush it, and nobody has to know."

Cas looked at Gail's brother, impressed. "That's brilliant," he told Frank. "You're brilliant!"

As Frank puffed out his chest, Gail said, "Boy, that's a sentence you don't hear every day."

Frank glared at her. "Hey, I can be just as smart as you, Miss Smarty-Pants," he told her.

Gail smiled. "That's MRS. Smarty-Pants. And, yes, I suppose if they taught Koko the gorilla how to speak sign language, anything's possible."

Frank looked at Cas again. "When we go into the Weapons Museum, you'd better stand in front of her," Gail's brother said. Then he resumed eating.

Gail laughed delightedly as Cas smiled. He was used to their brand of humour by now. "Give me your plate, please," he said to her. She slid it over to him and he dumped the contents into his napkin, then he tied up the napkin and put it in his inside jacket pocket. Then he repeated the process with his own plate.

"You'd better not go outside with those, in case there are any dogs around," Sam said, pouring some syrup on a pancake. He liked to eat healthy whenever he could, but you had to live a little, too.

"Yeah, that's another sitcom cliche," Dean said, loading up his plate with bacon. "They smell the food in your clothes and chase you around. On second thought, do that. It'd be hilarious."

Cas gave the Winchester brothers an indulgent smile, then he rose to dispose of the food. After a minute, Chuck did the same with his.

Klara came back a few minutes later, and she was pleased to see everyone eating enthusiastically. She looked down at Cas and Gail's plates and smiled. "Did you enjoy your breakfast?" she asked them.

"Yes, it was very good, thank you," Gail told the woman.

"Well then, have some more," Klara said to them. "I have some fresh tomatoes that I picked from my garden only yesterday. I'll have the girls bring some out."

"I'll get in on those," Sam said enthusiastically.

Cas smiled up at Klara. "Would you mind telling me what time your museum opens?" he asked her politely.

She dimpled. "I'm the proprietor," she replied. "It opens whenever I open it."

"We're very interested in seeing it," Chuck said.

Klara nodded. "We get a lot of men who are interested in it," she remarked. "Ever since that Game Of Thrones television show came on, there has been a lot more interest im medieval weaponry. And then, of course, there's that vampire nonsense."

"You think it's nonsense? Really?" Dean asked her.

Klara nodded vigorously. "I know it is," she told him. "But those weapons we have here are all real, and there is a lot of history attached to each and every piece. I think you men will really enjoy it." She looked at Gail and Jody. "I don't know how the ladies will feel about it, though. There are a lot of very violent stories and images there."

"Ooh, finish up, Frank," Jody said eagerly. "Now we have to go." Klara frowned, but Jody didn't care. She hated being stereotyped like that.

So did Gail, but she'd never really been that into weapons, either. Maybe it was because Jody had been a cop, or maybe because, deep down, Gail didn't really care that much for violence. That was probably why she hadn't been pestering Cas for a tune-up on her fighting skills. But there was safety in numbers, so she was glad that they had a large enough group now.

"Come see me when you finish breakfast, and I'll open the museum for you," Klara said, smiling warmly at Cas. She put her hand on his shoulder. "Now eat, eat." Then she walked away from the table.

"Wow," Dean said, around a mouthful of food. "I'd watch her around those weapons, Gail. I think she wants to take your place."

Gail looked at him, bemused. "Do you want to try that again, without the entire breakfast menu in your mouth?"

Sam banged his coffee cup down on the table and sat back in his chair. "Thank you!" he exclaimed. "At last, somebody else says it! I've been trying to talk to him about that for years, and he just calls me a girl!"

"Well then, I guess I'm a girl, too, cause I think it's disgusting," Bobby said. "Were you raised in a barn?"

"Practically," Dean said sharply, looking at Bobby. "I'm surprised you of all people would say something like that."

Everyone at the table fell silent. Sometimes they all forgot that Sam and Dean hadn't had the best upbringing in the world, or the best role model for a father.

"Sorry," Bobby said gruffly, and Sam and Dean exchanged glances. Wow. A kick-ass breakfast, a weapons museum, and an apology from Bobby. This was shaping up to be a great day.

The weapons museum had turned out to be a lot of fun, and very educational. The men had been like kids in a candy store. Jody, too. Gail and Chuck hung back while the others rushed excitedly from exhibit to exhibit.

"I like these broadswords," Frank commented approvingly. "Says here it's a two-edged blade. Twice as efficient."

"Definitely," Cas confirmed, nodding. "I believe that's what's known as 'multi-tasking'."

Frank clapped him on the shoulder, grinning. "Good one, Cas. You ever use one of those before?"

"Oh, yes. Many times," Cas replied. "It's especially useful for stupid enemies. You can just swing it back and forth, and they'll run right into it."

"If I was an old-time gal, I'd put one of those stilettos in my garter belt," Jody said, admiring a short knife with a sharp point. "That's be one of the very few advantages to being a woman, back in the day. Nobody'd be expecting it."

Frank put his arms around her waist. "I have never been more turned on by a woman in my life," he said to her.

"Okay, relax, 'Cas'," Dean teased Frank, elbowing him. Then he looked at Jody. "I guess stilettos are fine, if you like girly weapons."

"They're not just for females, Dean," Cas told him. "They're very useful. Because they're small, they're easily concealed. They're sharp, so they can pierce chain mail, and they can find gaps in body armour."

"The only chain mail I ever got was a letter telling me to send a dollar to everyone on the list or I'd have bad luck," Chuck said to Gail, and she giggled.

Gail couldn't get over it. Frank and Dean were actually competing for Cas's attention now, like kids wanting to get their father's approval. It obviously excited them to be here with someone who had actually used the weapons displayed here.

They were looking at the clubs and maces now. "I never cared for these," Cas remarked with a touch of disdain. "Too crude."

"Hey, here's something called a Holy Water Sprinkler!" Sam exclaimed, but then he peered closer. "I don't see why it's called that, though. It looks like just another club."

"It is," Cas told him. "The name's a misnomer. It's a weapon for poor people. Those who couldn't afford the higher-grade materials would fashion a club out of wood. The head of the club was made of metal, with radiating spikes. It was nicknamed a Holy Water Sprinkler because it kind of looks like one, that's all."

"Oh. Too bad," Sam said. He thought about Linda for a moment. She would have enjoyed being here with the group, fantasizing about killing multiple Demons with a Holy Water Sprinkler. He felt sad that she was stuck by herself in the Netherworld.

"How about those crossbows?" Dean said. "Pretty cool. Just like the one that guy on the zombie show has."

"Good for hunting, or for stealth attacks," Cas said, nodding approvingly.

"They're fairly recent innovations, though, aren't they?" Jody asked him.

"Oh, no, not at all," Cas replied. "Crossbows date back to Roman times. They were widely used as weapons until Pope Innocent banned them in 1139."

Gail shook her head. 1139. That was a year Cas was talking about, not a time of day, and he could speak about it with authority because he'd been there, not because he'd seen it on the History Channel. Sometimes that was hard for her to wrap her head around. Her husband had been around since, literally, the beginning of time.

"These throwing axes date back to the early Middle Ages," Cas was saying now. "They can also be very handy, if you have good aim."

"Wow," Chuck said softly. "So many things, designed for the specific purpose of harming humans. Makes me feel sad."

"Yeah, I feel the same way," Gail said to him. "Which is kind of funny, considering I'm married to Mr. Weapons Expert over there."

Chuck shrugged. "I'm glad Cas taught me how to fight, but I'd just as soon leave it to the professionals," he said. "I'm a writer, not a fighter."

"Cute," Gail retorted. "Are you sure you're not a poet?" She and Chuck laughed.

Cas came over to where they were standing. "I'm sorry, my love. I've been neglecting you," he said to Gail, putting his arm around her waist.

She smiled. "Not at all. You've got a class to teach," she teased.

He looked at her, puzzled, and then he smiled. "I guess I did sound a little like a teacher, didn't I?"

Gail kissed him on the cheek. "I think it's adorable, even if the subject matter isn't."

"Cas! Come here, look at this!" Dean called out, and Gail looked at her husband, smiling again. "Go," she said to him. He gave her a squeeze and walked over to Dean.

As Gail watched Cas now, she had an idea. A very, very good idea. Once they dealt with Lucifer, she thought she knew exactly what Cas should be doing next.

They'd concluded their tour of the museum, and the group fanned out now to begin looking around the hotel and the adjoining restaurant.

Cas and Gail decided that they would search the kitchen and dining room of the restaurant. It had appeared to them that Klara spent a lot of time there, and since she was so charmed by Cas, they thought she might allow him access to areas that the guests might not be ordinarily able to enter. If worse came to worst, he could always use the two-finger system on her.

Sure enough, when they entered the dining room, Klara was there, supervising the changeover between the breakfast and lunch services. She smiled when she saw the two of them walk in, hand in hand.

"Are you looking to be fed?" Klara asked them.

"No!" Gail exclaimed. Then she hastily added, "I'm still full from your delicious breakfast. The tomatoes were wonderful."

Klara was pleased by the compliment. "Then, how may I help you?"

Cas smiled. "I wonder if we could take a peek at your kitchen?" he asked her. "Maybe we could get the recipe for your drob de miel, so we can make it at home."

"We don't normally allow guests in the kitchen, but for you, I'll make an exception," Klara told him. She reached up and patted his cheek. "It's nice to see a man who appreciates the fine art of home cooking." She looked at Gail. "You're a lucky woman."

Gail smiled. "I know."

Klara brought the couple into the kitchen. She led Cas around and showed him some of the ingredients that were used in the preparation of the local dish, and then she went into a cabinet and took out a recipe box.

"I have a few recipes here that I can give you," Klara told them, leafing through the index cards.

Gail made eye contact with Cas. "I need to go to the washroom," she said, making a motion with her head. Cas gave her a nod, and she walked back out to the dining room.

As she'd been hoping, the place was deserted now. She walked quickly around the room, looking at the walls. She had Benoit's office in the back of her mind. She peeked behind a couple of the paintings that hung on the walls, but truthfully, she was fairly convinced that Sam was right. The hotel's restaurant was a bustling place, from what she'd seen, and she highly doubted that something like a Tablet would have remained here undiscovered for so long. In fact, like Sam, Gail also believed that the Tablet would be located somewhere in Bran Castle. But she agreed that they did have to look around here too, of course.

She edged closer to the front of the dining room. There was a darkened alcove there, with a thick set of drapes that were drawn against the wall. She would have a peek behind the drapes, just to be on the safe side. Then, if there was nothing there, she'd call it, and go back to the kitchen.

Gail pulled back the drapes with one hand, and that was when Jason grabbed her other arm.

"I've been preparing some chicken and dumplings for lunch," Klara said to Cas, taking the lid off of a huge pot. "Tell me what you think." She dipped a big spoon into the pot and gave it to him to try. Not wanting to be rude, Cas took it from her and tasted from it.

"It's delicious," he told her sincerely.

Klara beamed. "I'll make sure you get an extra-big helping, then."

Cas almost groaned. He knew this woman was trying to be kind, but he was going to have to figure out a way to refuse all the food she was pushing on him without being rude. He had enjoyed last night's meal, but he couldn't continue to eat like that.

He reached out and touched her forehead, and she froze in place. Cas did a quick search of the kitchen, but he didn't see anything that could be a likely hiding place for the Tablet. He came back to Klara and reanimated her.

"Thank you," Cas said, putting the recipe cards she'd given him into his jacket pocket. "Let me go find Gail, and then we'll see you later."

"I'll look forward to seeing all of you for the lunch seating," Klara said to him.

Cas shuddered inwardly. They had to get away from Klara and her constant feedings, otherwise, he would soon explode. He left the kitchen and walked through the dining room.

Gail was there, but curiously, she was sitting down at one of the tables with her head in her hands. Cas rushed over to her. "Are you all right?" he asked her.

She shook her head vigorously. "Yeah, I'm OK, Cas. I just felt light-headed there, for a minute."

He stared at her. That was odd.

Gail rose from her chair. "I'm fine now, Cas. I take it you didn't find anything?"

He frowned. "No."

"Me neither," Gail said. "I don't think it's here, Cas."

"Same here," he replied. He took her hand. "Let's go see how the others are doing. If they all come up empty, I think we'll head to the castle." He gave her a brief smile and lowered his voice. "If we plan it right, we can miss the lunch service here. Maybe dinner, as well. Otherwise, I'll need to buy bigger pants."

Gail laughed. The Angels walked hand in hand out to the lobby of the hotel.

Frank and Jody were there. They had been assigned to check the hallways and the lobby, but they had come up empty, as well.

"We were just coming to see you," Frank told the couple. "Nothing doing."

"Same here," Sam said. He and Dean had searched the salon, the bar, and the office, taking the opportunity to slip the lock while Cas had Klara occupied in the kitchen. "I'm not going to say I told you so, but I totally did," Sam said, grinning.

"Where are Bobby and Chuck?" Frank asked.

"They were going to go down to the basement, where the vampire exhibit is," Cas replied.

"Damn it! Why didn't you send ME there?" Frank asked him. He'd forgotten about that.

"Probably because he knows you would do more fooling around than looking around," Jody said.

Frank shrugged, grinning now. She was likely right about that. But still: "I just want to see it for a second," Frank said. "Maybe get just one picture, for Robbie."

"Oh, for ROBBIE," Jody said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"We might as well go down there, then," Cas said. "If they have come up empty, we'll proceed to Bran Castle, next."

They all walked single file down the winding staircase. It emptied out into a hallway. There was a sign stating "No Admittance" on one side of the corridor, and a sign that read "This Way To Dracula's Lair" on the other side, with an arrow pointing in the direction they were expected to go.

"Cool," Dean said.

Suddenly, they heard a crash, and a yell. What the hell? They all hurried down the corridor into a large room that was made up to look like a crypt.

Chuck was lying on the floor beside an empty prop coffin. "Look out!" he yelled.

A Demon attached Sam from the side, blasting him into the opposite wall. Frank reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a Demon knife, stabbing Sam's assailant.

Meanwhile, a vampire had Bobby pinned up against the coffin. His hand was on Bobby's throat, and their friend was struggling to get free.

Sam bounced up from the floor. "Good reflexes," he called out to Frank, who grinned. "I was a boy scout," Frank responses. "'Always be prepared'."

Jody tackled the vampire who held Bobby by the throat. Or at least, she tried. The vampire extended his free hand and pushed her away, and she went flying over the coffin to where Chuck lay, on the other side. He was getting to his feet, and he helped her to do the same.

Now they saw another vampire approaching, and Cas flung out his arm, repelling it. But as soon as he did that, another Demon attacked Sam, again. This time Sam was ready, though. He'd gotten his Demon knife out of his boot. He stabbed the Demon and let its vessel drop to the floor.

"Wow, Demons really don't like you, do they?" Jody quipped to Sam, who shrugged.

Frank had rushed over to where the vampire was still choking Bobby. He was slashing at the vampire with his knife. He knew that wouldn't really harm the thing, but he just wanted to get it off poor Bobby. Their friend's face was turning blue now. Finally, the vamp released Bobby and turned on Frank, grabbing him and throwing him across the room.

The other vampire that Cas had repelled grabbed Gail from behind, and she cried out in surprise. She was trying to get into her pants pocket for her blade, thinking she could use it to make the vamp let go of her.

Jody saw Gail's struggles, but her sister=in-law was fighting with two Demons now. Cas was tangling with the vampire who had attacked Frank, and Dean was nowhere in sight. "Sam!" Jody yelled, and Sam punched the vampire who was holding Gail in the face. It staggered back, loosening its grip on Gail. She was able to wriggle out of its arms, and Sam pushed her behind him.

"We need something to decapitate these sons of bitches!" Bobby yelled in a hoarse voice. He was rubbing his neck, in the spot where the vampire had been choking him.

On cue, Dean came running back into the room. He had an armload of weapons from the museum. He handed Frank a broadsword, then tossed a throwing axe to Cas, who caught it neatly.

"Thanks," Cas said tersely. He hacked the vampire's head off with the axe, then tossed the axe to Sam, who did the same thing to the other vampire. "And thanks to you, too," Cas said to Sam with a brief smile, nodding towards Gail. Sam smiled back.

Gail was starting to get mad now. She was always the one being bailed out. "Give me your Demon knife," she said to Frank. He offered it to her. She snatched it out of his hand and ran over to where Jody was. Gail stabbed one of the Demons, and Jody stabbed the other.

"Chicks rule!" Jody exclaimed, and the two women high-fived.

Another monster attacked Bobby, but he knocked it to the ground and stabbed it. "Where the hell did all of these things come from, all of a sudden?!" he exclaimed.

Suddenly, Dean swore loudly. "Oh, no. No way," he said.

"It can't be," Sam chipped in.

"What? What are you guys talking about?" Jody said sharply.

Gail turned around to look where the brothers were looking. There was a man entering the room. He was walking with a slow saunter, like he didn't have a care in the world.

"Man," Sam lamented. "I thought those guys were all in Purgatory."

"They are," Dean replied. "They're supposed to be, anyway."

"Surprise," the man said softly.

Gail was looking at the Winchesters' faces, and she was puzzled. She'd never seen them looking this stricken before. Then she looked at Cas. He was also staring at the man, an incredulous look on his face. What was she missing, here?

"Friggin' Leviathan," Bobby said with disgust.

Jody gasped. She remembered the boys having told her about the Leviathans. They were arguably the worst sort of monsters there were, at least when it came to getting rid of them, anyway.

"What's a Leviathan?" Chuck asked Cas.

"It's an abomination," Castiel replied. "Our Father's worst creation."

"I thought that was you, Castiel," the Leviathan sneered.

"Where did you come from?" Sam asked it. "Why aren't you in Purgatory?"

"I was, until our mutual acquaintance Lucifer left the Portal ajar," it replied.

"Son of a bitch!" Dean swore. "How many of you guys got out?"

"I think I'll just let you find that out for yourselves," the Leviathan retorted. "Well, those of you I don't eat, of course."

"Yeah, whatever," Frank said. He stepped forward and chopped the Leviathan's head off with his broadsword. "There," he said. "I was getting sick of listening to him, anyway."

"That's too bad, because you're gonna be listening to him again, in a second," Sam remarked.

Frank looked at him. What? Then, an instant later, he saw what Sam was talking about. The Leviathan's head started to wobble. It had landed on the floor and rolled over to where Cas and Gail stood. Cas had been edging over to Gail ever since the Leviathan had appeared. Neither she nor Frank would know anything about this particular breed of monster, he was sure. That was why Frank had beheaded it, thinking that that would be enough to kill it.

The head flew through the air and reattached itself to the Leviathan's body. Then it stood, and fixed Frank with a baleful stare. "You must be new here," it said to him.

Frank looked at Sam and Dean. "You've gotta be kidding me with this," he said to them.

"I wish we were, Frank," Sam said.

Castiel was very angry now, and he was also afraid. Lucifer had opened the Portal to Purgatory? That explained why they had been set upon by both Demons and vampires here. It was highly unusual for those two types of entities to attack in concert with one another. How many creatures had been loosed? And how many Leviathans?

"So how do we kill these bastards?" Frank asked the men, eyeing the Leviathan nervously.

"There is a way, but it involves some preparation," Cas said. He was also watching it warily.

"Yeah, so would you mind maybe coming back in, like, a year or two?" Dean quipped.

The Leviathan regarded him with a sour expression. Then it grabbed Dean and flung him across the room. Cas extended his arm, and the ray of blue light shot out from his fingertips. But the Leviathan dodged it. It looked at Cas speculatively. "Well, at least that's new," the Leviathan said conversationally.

Gail grabbed her blade and spoke in Enochian, and the beam of golden light shone from its tip. She aimed it at the monster. It put up its hand, and the beam burned a hole in the palm.

The Leviathan looked at the hole in its hand, and then it looked at Gail. "Well, aren't you cute. You're obviously new, too," it said to her. It shook its hand out, and the hole repaired itself. Crap, Gail thought.

Cas moved in front of Gail, shielding her with his body. The Leviathan raised an eyebrow to him. "Interesting," it said. "There were rumours, but we're a little out of the loop in Purgatory. It's a dog-eat-dog world there, as you know, Castiel. So, this is your little wife. It'll be a pleasure eating her, even though she is only a tiny morsel."

"I'll kill you before I'll let you near her," Cas said angrily.

"Good luck with that," the Leviathan said casually. "Unless you've been promoted to the status of Archangel, the only way to do that is with the bone."

"The bone?" Chuck blurted out.

"Prophet, right?" the Leviathan said, looking at Chuck. It looked back at Castiel. "Why is it that these guys can never tell you anything you really need to know?" the Leviathan asked Cas. "If he'd been able to tell you we were coming, you could have brought a bone." It turned back to Chuck. "That's the bone of a righteous mortal man, soaked in the blood of the Fallen. See? I don't just eat; I like to educate, too."

"Is that the only way to kill these things?" Frank said, exasperated. This guy almost made him long for Crowley. He certainly scored just as high on the Snark-o-Meter.

"No. There's another way."

They all turned to look at the doorway. A woman was standing there, smiling at them all.

"What are YOU doing here?" the male Leviathan said to her.

"The same thing as you are," she replied calmly. "Just looking for a meal."

He let out a frustrated breath. "Fine. We'll split them."

"Fairly?" she asked skeptically.

He smirked. "Of course. In fact, why don't you take the humans, and I'll take the Angels. You'll get five, I'll only get three."

"How magnanimous of you," the female Leviathan said sarcastically. "There's only one problem with your math. One Angel is worth at least a hundred humans, and Castiel would be worth thousands. Maybe even millions. You know that. You're just looking to be the Alpha."

He frowned. "So what if I am? I'll share the spoils."

"No, I think I'll be the one sharing the spoils," she remarked. Her mouth opened wide, revealing rows upon rows of razor-sharp teeth. She pounced on the male Leviathan and began to eat him.

"Chuck, Gail," Cas said quickly. "Take the others outside, now." He jerked the broadsword out of Frank's hand. "NOW!" he shouted. Gail grabbed Frank's and Dean's hands, Chuck grabbed Jody's and Sam's, and at the last minute, Sam grabbed Bobby's arm. In his fear and panic, Chuck had forgotten that Bobby wasn't an Angel any more. They all dropped their weapons as they winked out of the basement.

Castiel strode forward and cut the female Leviathan's head clean off with the broadsword. He caught the head in his arms and winked out of the cellar. He reappeared in Antarctica and buried the head in the snow, then winked himself back to the hotel grounds. The humans and the Angels were all standing out back of the hotel, in the forest. As soon as she and Chuck had winked everyone outside, Gail had suggested that they hide themselves. Every one of them had blood on them. While they had been waiting for Cas, she had been moving from person to person, cleaning their clothes, and their faces and hands.

When Cas appeared, she did the same thing for him. He looked at her gratefully.

"I took care of the situation, but it'll buy us some time, only," he told everyone. "We'll have to be very vigilant from now on." He looked down at Gail. "I'm sorry to ask this of you, but could you please help me to restore the basement to its original condition?" he asked her. "We can't have the hotel staff or any of the human guests seeing what's down there."

Gail nodded. He was right, of course. There was blood all over the basement, and they would have to get rid of the bodies, too. Hopefully, no one had heard any of the noise and gone downstairs to investigate.

"I'll come, too," Chuck volunteered.

Cas put his hand on Chuck's shoulder. Gail finished cleaning everyone, and Cas said, "I'll bring the weapons back out here, after I collect them from the basement. Then I'll modify Klara's memory, so that she's unaware that they're missing. We will have to be able to defend ourselves properly if there are more attacks."

"Good stuff," Dean said, nodding. "As long as we don't see any more of those Leviathan asshats, we should be able to take care of anything else."

Cas frowned. That worried him, too. But he could only take care of one thing at a time. He and Gail and Chuck popped back into the basement. It was a bloody mess.

"Please gather up the weapons, and we'll bring them outside," Cas said to Chuck. Gail was walking around the room, cleaning up the blood and repairing broken objects.

"We'll be back in just a moment to start removing the dead," Cas told her. "Will you be all right alone here, for a moment?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure if there were any more, we would have seen them by now," she replied. Then she handed him Frank's Demon knife, which she still held in her hand. "Here, can you give this back to my brother, sweetie?" Cas took the knife, and Gail withdrew her own blade from her pants pocket. "I'll keep this out, just in case," she told him.

Cas gave her a quick smile. She was so good, and so brave. "I'm so proud of you," he told her.

"Just get those weapons, and get them outside," she said, gesturing to him and Chuck. "I don't want those guys to be unarmed, just in case." Then she smiled. "And, thank you."

Cas and Chuck winked out, and an instant later, Jason rushed out of the shadows of the basement. He had been watching the entire fracas, highly amused. He'd figured that the group should easily be able to handle the garden-variety creatures, and he had enjoyed watching the way that they had used those ancient weapons. Castiel the Warrior was always fun to watch, and apparently, he had trained his people well. Even the women had dispatched two of the Demons very efficiently. But, when the Leviathan had shown up, Jason had seen the expression on the men's faces, and he had smiled. Jason may hate Castiel, but he knew his former compatriot was no fool. Then, once the others had been taken to safety, Jason had watched as Castiel had beheaded the female Leviathan after she'd eaten the male, removing the head from the vicinity. Smart, but it was only a temporary solution, of course. A moment or two after Castiel had left the basement, the Leviathan's headless body had gotten up and left the basement, seeking its head. Castiel had only slowed down the unification process. Still, it had bought his group some time, until the bone that could kill it could be obtained.

The instant that Gail saw Jason, she instinctively raised her blade. But once they made eye contact, she slowly out it back in her pocket. He came to her and pulled the neck of her sweater down, exposing her throat. She made a noise as if in protest, but she turned her head slowly to the side, to afford him access.

Jason smiled. Being an Alpha definitely had its privileges. He had her mesmerized now. Whenever they made eye contact, she would be quiet and docile. He wished he'd been able to do this during the tribunal, Jason thought with a smile. As it was, if he cared to help Lucifer, Jason could tell him about this. Finally, an effective way to shut her up.

But he'd better be quick now. Castiel would be back at any moment. Jason was extremely excited by what he was doing. He had never really cared about such matters, but now he could appreciate why humans had clandestine affairs. It was very satisfying to Jason to be standing here feeding on Castiel's wife while his enemy was just steps away, oblivious. And with every bite, Gail was becoming more dependent on Jason, just as he was becoming more and more addicted to her blood. Soon she would be finding excuses to go places alone, just to make herself available to Jason. And she would have no idea why, because she would have no recollection of ever even having seen him.

He fed quickly, and then left the basement before Castiel came back.

When Cas and Chuck returned to the basement, Gail had resumed cleaning the room. The men disposed of the bodies, and then they moved the prop coffin back to its original position.

The Angels looked around the room. "What do you think?" Cas asked them. Gail and Chuck exchanged glances. "I think it looks exactly like it did when we first got here," Chuck remarked. "Good job, Gail," he added, smiling at her.

"I will go upstairs and modify Klara's memory," Castiel told them. "Will you please wait with the group?" Chuck nodded, taking Gail's hand, and they winked outside.

"What's happening?" Frank asked the Angels. They filled everybody in, and a minute or two later, Cas reappeared.

"I modified Klara's memory, and now she is under the impression that she has lent us some of the weapons from the museum, and that the museum is temporarily closed for renovations." He gave Chuck and Gail a quick smile. "And she is also under the impression that she has already fed us a big lunch. I thought we could use a break."

The Angels smiled with relief, and Cas continued, "I think we should set out for the castle as soon as possible. I don't know how many creatures Lucifer has loosed from Purgatory, but the sooner we get our hands on that Tablet, the better."

"We should be able to take care of nearly everything that could have come out of there," Dean told him. "But what about the Leviathans? We haven't got anything to kill those sons of bitches with."

Cas frowned. "I'm still working on that."

Gail had been standing beside Cas, listening to his and Dean's exchange, when suddenly, she felt very light-headed. She stumbled and fell against Cas, who grunted in surprise. He and Dean both reached out to steady her.

"What the hell, Gail?" Dean exclaimed.

She shook her head, trying to clear the dizziness. "I don't know," Gail replied dazedly.

Cas put his arm around her waist. "I'm sorry, Gail," he said softly.

"What's wrong with her?" Frank demanded.

"Obviously, the strain of cleaning all of you, plus the entire basement area, was too much for her," Cas said, tight-lipped.

"Well, excuuuse me," Frank said sarcastically. "I don't see any blood on you, either!"

Dean winced, but Cas's heart sank. Frank was right. Gail had actually cleaned Cas twice; once, when they'd first gotten out here, and again, when he had gotten back from Antarctica. And she had cleaned up all of the blood in the basement, and there had been a lot of it.

"I'm sorry, Frank. You're right," Cas said in a quiet voice. He had both of his arms around Gail now. "Are you all right?" he asked her.

"Just...give me a minute, Cas," she said, but she was starting to feel better already. Maybe she had kind of overdone it. She had used her powers to clean and to repair things before, but she couldn't recall ever having done that much all in one sitting. Maybe it was like a muscle; maybe you had to use it more often to make it stronger, or something.

Gail opened her eyes. "I'm fine now. Sorry, everybody. I guess I'm just not used to using that much juice all at once."

"Well, next time, we can just wash up," Frank said. He approached her, scrutinizing her face.

"But then your clothes would still have been all bloody," she said tartly. "And don't yell at Cas. Of course everything had to be cleaned up. We don't want anybody here at the hotel freaking out."

Frank started to smile. "She's fine, everybody. If she can smart off to me like that, she's gonna be OK."

Cas looked at Frank, and his expression was so distressed that Frank relented and clapped his hand on Cas's shoulder.

"How are we going to get to the castle?" Sam asked Cas.

"I'll tell you what," Cas replied. "I wanted to examine our blades, just on the off chance that I can see anything on them that would help with the Leviathans. And I'd like Gail to be able to rest up for a bit. I was initially just going to wink us all over there, but now I think you'll get your wish, Dean. Here, can you help me?" Cas gave Gail to Dean. She had still been leaning against him for support, despite her protestations that she was fine. Then Cas said, "I'll be right back." Then he disappeared.

As soon as Cas was gone, Gail pulled away from Dean. "I'm fine, Dean. You don't have to prop me up," she said sharply. Then her expression softened as she saw the look on his face. "I'm sorry, Dean. I'm just annoyed with myself," she apologized. And it was true. Even though she wasn't dizzy any more, Gail was feeling very tired now. Was it just because she'd used her powers so much? But if that was the case, why didn't Cas ever seem to get tired?

Cas came back a few minutes later, and he asked Gail how she was feeling. She fibbed and said she was fine, so he looked at Dean.

"I have a nice surprise for you, Dean," Cas told his friend. "I popped over to a car rental agency in town and told them we wanted to rent a couple of European sports cars. They had one for rent immediately, and they were checking on the availability of the other." He took a set of keys out of his pants pocket and handed them over.

Dean's face lit up. "What did you get?" he asked eagerly.

"It's called a Triumph," Cas replied.

Dean and Frank exchanged glances. "British," Gail's brother remarked. "Cool. You can pretend you're James Bond. What make is it, Cas?"

"They called it a TR7," Cas replied, smiling.

Frank burst out laughing, and Dean's smile disappeared. "You've gotta be kidding me," he said to Cas.

"Why? What's the matter, Dean?" Cas asked, puzzled.

"Cas, that's one of the worst cars you could ever get," Dean fumed. "It's on every Lemon List there is."

Frank was still laughing. "Oh, man, I've got to get a picture of you driving that," he said to Dean.

"Send it to my phone, and I'll forward it to all our friends," Sam said, grinning. Truthfully, Sam didn't know much about the subject. But based on both Frank's and Dean's reactions, it had to be pretty bad.

"But they told me it was a classic car," Cas said, his brow furrowed.

"It's a bucket of bolts," Dean said angrily. "The damn thing probably won't even make it up the road to the castle. I hope you didn't pay too much for it. They should have paid you, just to take it off their hands!"

"Didn't you say they were checking on another car, Cas?" Frank said, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes with the back of his hand. Too funny. "What was that one, an Edsel?"

"I will punch you right now," Dean said to Frank.

"No, it was something called an Aston Martin," Cas replied. He was frowning now. He was thinking he probably should have brought Dean or Frank with him to the car rental agency. "The man said it was due to be returned in a few minutes, and they were just going to have it cleaned, and then it would be available. I told them we would take that one, too, because we had eight people. Should I not have done that?"

Dean's jaw dropped open. "An Aston Martin? Really, Cas?"

Cas sighed. "Yes, Dean. Is that one a lemon, too?"

Dean looked at Frank. "An Aston Martin," he repeated in a hushed voice, then he yelled, "Yahtzee!"

"I'll fight you for it," Frank said hopefully.

Dean pressed the car keys Cas had given him into Frank's hand. "Go with God, Frank," he said smirking.

"Who said YOU get it?" Frank protested.

"I've known Cas longer," Dean said. "I'm his best friend."

"Yeah, well...I'm his brother-in-law," Frank retorted.

"Gail was adopted," Dean shot back.

"Oh my God, you guys," Chuck said suddenly. He walked up to Frank and extended his hand. "Give them to me. I'll drive the other one. I don't care."

"Are you sure, Chuck?" Frank said doubtfully.

"Yeah, Frank, I'm sure," Chuck replied. "Anything to get this settled."

Dean grinned. "Way to take one for the team, Chuck," he said. Then he looked at Frank, who was grinning now. "What are you grinning at?" Dean said to Gail's brother. "Who says Sammy and I are taking you? We're taking Cas and Gail. He needs to see what a good car looks like."

Frank opened his mouth to call Dean a word that probably shouldn't be said in the presence of Angels, but Cas held up his hand. "If it means that much to you, Frank, why don't you and Jody go with Sam and Dean?" Cas suggested. He looked at Gail. "If that's all right with you, Gail."

She shrugged. She was too tired to care. "Hey, if it'll make the Bickersons happy, it's fine with me," she said.

Frank and Dean were beaming, but now Bobby was frowning. Maybe he would have liked to have a ride in a James Bond car. But he wasn't going to pout about it, or they'd be here all day.

"Then, it's settled," Cas said happily. "I'll go back to the car rental agency. Dean and Chuck, you can come with me, and then we'll drive back here to pick everyone up. Please leave your weapons here. Frank, Sam, can you please take the weapons? If there is any trouble, Gail can call me on Angel Radio, and I'll come right back. Okay?"

"OK, Cas," she replied.

"I'll hurry back," Cas told her. He put his arm around her waist and gave her a squeeze, and a kiss on the cheek. Then he and Chuck took Dean by his arms, and they winked out.

A minute or two later, Gail began to shiver.

"What's wrong?" Frank asked her sharply. He'd been keeping half an eye on her ever since she'd stumbled against Cas.

"Believe it or not, I'm chilly," she told him. "I'm going to go up to my room and put on a thicker sweater."

"I'll come with," Frank said, gripping his sword tighter. He looked at Jody. "Will you guys be all right here for a minute?"

Sam brandished his axe. "Please," he said sarcastically. "We've got this. Bobby and I know how to kill monsters, and your wife can kick some major ass."

"Why don't you just stay here with them?" Gail said to her brother. "I'll just wink straight into our room, and I'll be right back."

But she couldn't do it. "Wow, my batteries must really be dead," she remarked. "Looks like I'll have to do it the old-fashioned way."

"Well then, I'm coming with you," Frank told her. "Cas would kill me if anything attacked you on the way. If you're that low on juice, you might not be able to protect yourself."

Gail was annoyed, but she didn't protest, mainly because he was right. She was done right now.

They walked into the front door of the hotel. Frank was holding the sword behind his back, but thankfully, the lobby was deserted.

"Let's hurry, before anyone sees us," Gail said, and they crossed the lobby and hurried up the stairs. Gail opened the door to her and Cas's room with the key she had in her pants pocket. She went to the dresser and took out a thick wool sweater. "Be right back," she told her brother. She walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

She took off the sweater she had on and looked at herself in the mirror. She could still see the red spot on her neck that Cas had remarked on the night before. It looked a bit more pronounced now, as if she had been scratching at it, or something. Could it be a bug bite, maybe? Oh, well. She'd worry about it later. She ran the taps and splashed some water on her face. Hopefully, that would perk her up a bit. Then she dried off with a towel, put on the thicker sweater, and came back out, tossing her other sweater on the bed.

Frank was at the window. "I closed the door," he told her. "I know you like it cool, but you'd better keep it locked at all times, unless Cas is here. Actually, with those Leviathan guys - and girls - running around, you should probably keep it closed and locked at all times, just on general principles."

Gail hated to admit it, but her brother was right. "I know! What the hell was up with those?" she said, putting her hand on his arm.

"I don't know," he replied. "Give me a nice, normal monster, any day."

They both laughed, and then Frank's expression grew serious. "Are you OK, kiddo?" he asked her. "Really?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Frank. I just need to recharge for a bit. I'm not used to using my powers that much, I guess. Usually Cas is in front of me, fighting all the bad guys for me. Or you, or Sam and Dean," she said with a wry smile.

"And thank God he is, too," her brother said. "You married a good guy there."

Gail looked up at her brother and smiled. "Thanks, Frank. I think so, too. And you didn't do so bad, yourself."

He cleared his throat. "While we're having a moment here, can I ask you something, Gail?"

Her eyes widened. This must be serious. He almost never called her by her given name. "Sure. What is it, Frank?"

He told her about Jody, and the lump in her breast. "I know you're an Angel now, but you're also a woman," Frank said to her. "So do you know how those things work?"

She shrugged. "Not really. But it sounds like SHE does, if she's had them before. I wouldn't worry too much about it. We'll just have to make sure she gets it looked at, as soon as we get back."

Frank nodded. "Yeah. OK. OK, then. We'd better go back downstairs now."

"Where's your sword?" she asked him, curious.

He grinned. "I shoved it down my pants leg. Too bad you can't just wink me outside. I'll just have to walk downstairs very, very carefully."

Gail opened her mouth, then closed it again. "I have so many jokes running around in my head right now, you've actually rendered me speechless," she said to him.

"You're speechless, and I'm going to get into an Aston Martin in a few minutes," Frank said cheerfully. "Aside from that whole monster thing, this is turning out to be one of the best days of my life."

A short time later, Cas reappeared in front of the group. "Dean's about a half-mile away," he told them. "I just wanted to make sure that everything was all right here."

"It's been quiet, Cas," Bobby told him.

"Good," Cas said. He looked at Gail. "Why are you wearing a different sweater?" he asked her, puzzled.

"Believe it or not, I got chilly," she replied, "so I changed into a thicker sweater. Actually, do you think we could make a quick stop on our way to the castle to buy me a winter jacket?"

Cas frowned momentarily, but then he relented. He certainly didn't want her to be cold. They had been talking about getting her one for a while, after all, but they had never gotten around to it. And the people at the car rental agency had told him that the forecast called for light snow.

Cas nodded. "Yes, of course. We'll stop by a shop on the way." He smiled thinly at Frank. "It looks like you might have a few moments to buy a souvenir or two, after all."

Frank broke into a grin. "This day just keeps getting better and better." His head snapped up. "I think I hear our ride," he said excitedly. He grabbed Jody's hand and led her around to the front of the hotel, where Dean was just pulling up in the Aston Martin. Sam followed, smiling.

Cas looked at Bobby and Gail, then he sent a message to Chuck on Angel Radio, asking where he was. Chuck was nursing the car along as best he could, but it didn't have the speed of Dean's car, of course. According to the GPS system, he should be there in about 15 minutes or so, he sent back.

The others walked to the front of the hotel, where Dean and Sam and Frank and Jody were all standing beside the Aston Martin. Frank and Dean were walking around it, talking excitedly.

"Pretty cool," Bobby said, surprising them all. He approached the vehicle, staring admiringly at it.

Cas took Gail's hand, smiling at her. "I'm glad that Frank and Dean are so excited," he said to his wife. "What do you think?"

She shrugged. "Truthfully? I don't see what's so great about it. The only thing I usually notice about a car is what's playing on the radio." She answered his smile. "But don't tell Frank that; I think he'd disown me."

Cas gave her hand a squeeze. He had never really understood the distinction between a "cool" car, and a "lemon". As long as it had four wheels and an engine, he didn't really see the difference. That was probably because he teleported everywhere. But it pleased him to see them so happy.

"When's Chuck gonna be here?" Dean called out to Cas, fighting not to grin too widely. Poor Chuck. Oh, well. Too bad for him. He had volunteered.

"About fifteen minutes," Cas told him.

"I'll tell you what," Dean said. "I've already got the castle programmed into the GPS. Frank said you need to stop and get Gail a jacket, anyway. So how about if we just meet you up there? Frank can get his souvenirs on the way, and by the time you guys get there, we'll be ready to take the tour."

"That's if that piece of junk Chuck is driving ever makes it up the pass," Frank chipped in. He wasn't bothering to suppress his grin. "You may have to wink over to the castle and get a couple of us burly guys to give you a push."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Cas said absently. If the car they were looking to ride in failed, the Angels could always wink over to the castle, and work something out later. He was thinking about the Leviathans. "Go ahead if you want, Dean."

The humans all piled into the car. Frank was having a little trouble folding his tall frame into the back seat, and so was Sam in the front, but neither of them complained. Then they sped off.

When Chuck got there, Bobby got in the front seat, and Cas and Gail got in the back. Cas asked her for her blade, and she handed it over. Then she slumped against him, resting her head on his shoulder. He looked at her, surprised. "I just need to recharge for a bit," she told him. "Go ahead and look at the blades. Let us know if you see anything interesting," Gail said to him.

Cas looked at her with concern. But she had advised that she was all right, just a little tired, and he had the Leviathans on his mind. It was only a matter of time before the one they'd seen back at the hotel caught up with them, and from what they had said, there could be others. There were only two ways to kill a Leviathan, as far as he knew. The first way had been demonstrated at the hotel, when the female had eaten the male. But with every Leviathan she ate, she would become stronger and stronger. The only other way he knew of to kill one was to soak the bone of a righteous mortal man in the blood of the Fallen. The latter would be no problem, as Cas himself could be considered one of the Fallen. The instant his Father had made Cas a human in order to punish him, he had become one. He shared that dubious distinction with Crowley, and with Lucifer. But, obtaining the bone of a righteous mortal man? That might be a little trickier. According to the lore, the bone had to be fresh, and the blood had to coat it at the same moment it was obtained; the implication being that the bone had to come from a freshly dead human, and the human had to be a righteous one. How on earth was Castiel supposed to arrange that?

He began to examine their blades, to see if there were any clues there. He and Gail had only had a couple of informational sessions with Crowley about the markings on their blades, and the powers they denoted. Now that Crowley had turned against them, he had ceased to be a resource. If only Cas were stronger in the ancient language. As intently as he studied the markings, he could only make out a few words and phrases here and there. He recognized his own and Crowley's original Biblical names on his own blade, and on Gail's, the word "ark". Really? Did their Father think He was being funny with that one? Cas had let it go, but that was still a bit of a sensitive subject for him. The phrase "the beasts of the Earth" was also on her blade. And the word "Archangel" was etched on his. Curious, because he didn't recall ever seeing that particular marking there before, when he'd examined it previously.

But he was growing frustrated now. What good were these fragmented words and phrases, if he couldn't put them in context with anything? He needed to study them further, in more depth, when he had more time. Maybe Metatron would agree to help, if he truly wanted to turn over a new leaf.

For now, though, he didn't see anything about Leviathans, so he put his blade back in his pocket. He'd been about to give Gail hers, but as he looked down at her face, he noticed that her eyes were closed, and he didn't want to disturb her rest. So Cas put her blade in his pocket too, and then he slipped his arm around her. She smiled, but kept her eyes closed.

They had been driving in silence, but now Cas saw another opportunity to obtain corroboration of Metatron's assertion that the Demon period had never happened. When he had seen the word "ark" on Gail's blade, Cas's mind had taken him back to the day they'd had the strategy meeting in the bunker, when Lucifer and Metatron had first gotten free. Many other things could possibly be explained away, but Cas couldn't wrap his head around the conversation he had overheard that day between Crowley and Bobby. Crowley had called Bobby into the hallway, railing about Castiel having "gotten away with it". He could only have been referring to Cas having been a Demon. The two of them seemed to be under the impression that they were speaking outside of Cas's earshot. But they must have forgotten that he had better-than-average hearing, both as a celestial being, and as an Original. He had heard the entire thing, but he hadn't let on, because it would have called attention to the subject. At that time, everyone else had been in the dark about the incident. But if it had never happened, then how could Bobby and Crowley have been talking about it?

Cas asked Bobby if he remembered that day.

"Of course I do," Bobby replied. "What about it?"

"I have a confession to make," Cas said. "When Crowley took you into the hallway to talk to you privately, I may have overheard more of that conversation than you would have liked me to."

Bobby shrugged. "OK, so you heard him telling me to handle you and your temper. Big deal. I guess he didn't want to sound so whiny in front of Sam and Dean," Bobby said dryly. "I've always thought he had a bit of a crush on those two."

"So he didn't say anything else? That was all?" Cas persisted.

"Yeah, that was pretty much it, Cas. So I told him to stop it with the sarcasm, and get his royal keister back to the library."

Cas was astonished. That was it? Had his guilty conscience manufactured a conversation that had never taken place? Had Metatron's modification been that pervasive?

"Chuck, do you remember a time when you and I and Bobby were alone in the bunker, and Frank stopped by?" Cas said casually.

Chuck thought for a moment. "No, Cas, I can't say as I do. When would that have been?"

Cas had to be careful here. So far, it was just idle conversation. But, he had to hear it for himself. "I don't know, Chuck. I had a crazy vision, I guess," Cas told him.

"Hey, visions are my job," Chuck said lightly. But he smiled to show that he was joking. "What of?" he asked.

"Believe it or not, of me, killing Frank in the training room at the bunker," Cas responded, pasting a thin smile on his face.

Gail's eyes flew open. Now she understood what Cas was getting at, and now, she was very interested in Chuck's answer. That had, arguably, been one of the worst things that Demon Cas had ever done, or so they'd thought at the time. He had allegedly killed her brother when she'd been at Oliver's with Sam and Dean. But recently, they had received confirmation that she had not been at Oliver's with Sam and Dean, making everything else that had happened around that time extremely suspect. Crowley had supposedly revived Frank, and then, all of the men in this car had allegedly covered it up. In retrospect, she supposed they should have found the purported fact that Crowley had revived Frank to be highly suspicious. Crowley detested Frank, and the feeling was entirely mutual. Would Crowley really have used his powers to revive one guy he hated to bail out another guy he hated?

She sat up straight and looked towards the front seat. Chuck took his eyes off the road long enough to glance at Bobby, and the two men broke into grins.

"Well, I don't know what you've been smoking, Cas, but I'd lay off for a while," Bobby quipped.

"Find out what kind of herbs Klara grows in her garden," Chuck chipped in. "You? Killing Frank? That's a riot. Wait until I tell him. Even if for some crazy reason you tried to do that, Jody would kick your ass. Or, Gail would. I wouldn't like your chances."

"I've heard about in-law problems, but this is ridiculous," Bobby said. "Gail would make you sleep on the couch for the rest of your existence, if you ever did anything like that. OK, well, you know what I mean."

Cas and Gail looked at each other. Her heart was in her throat. "Why were we living in Vancouver, Bobby?" she said quietly.

"What did you say, Gail?" Bobby said, raising his voice. They were driving up an incline now, on the way to the mountain pass, and the car's engine had grown louder, as if in protest of the hard work Chuck was forcing it to do. He could just bet that Aston Martin had purred all the way up the mountain. The four of them were probably already standing in the castle, tapping their toes impatiently.

"Why were Cas and I living in Vancouver, when we got back together?" Gail repeated in a louder voice.

"You weren't," Bobby said, puzzled. "Only Cas was."

"Don't tell me you guys are finally ready to tell us why you and Cas broke up, after you got back from the cabin," Chuck said, "'cause I will pull over for that."

Cas grabbed Gail's hand and held it tightly. "You don't know why we broke up, Chuck?" he said, tensing for their friend's answer.

"No, Cas. No one knows," Chuck replied. "As far as I know, neither of you ever told anyone, and we figured it was none of our business if you didn't want to talk about it."

"Well, it wasn't any of our business," Bobby said bluntly. "It still isn't."

"That didn't stop me from trying to ask you, though, Gail," Chuck added, grinning. "Don't you remember? You told me I should bloody well know, and then you stormed out of the boardroom."

"You weren't living in Vancouver with Cas, you and the boys went there on a holiday," Bobby continued. "But we all thought the two of you seemed on the verge of getting back together by then, and then, you did. I don't mind telling you that we were all really happy when that happened. Even me. I know I give you both a hard time, but I've gotta say, I was ready to stick my nose in if the two of you hadn't gotten back together on that trip."

"So, are you going to tell us?" Chuck prodded them. "I want to finally have a piece of information that Dean doesn't. As it is, he's gonna be laughing his ass off when we sputter up to the castle in this piece of crap." He changed gears, nursing the car up the hill. "That's if we get there at all, of course."

"Never mind, Chuck," Cas said, smiling gently. "It doesn't matter anymore. None of that matters." He brought Gail's hand up to his lips and kissed it softly. "Does it, my love?"

"No, I don't think it does," she replied, smiling at him. "Sorry, Bobby, but I think we're going to have to make out back here, for a minute or three."

Bobby rolled his eyes. "I missed out on a ride in James Bond's car, and now I have to watch the two of you do that?"

"Then don't look," Cas said, quite logically. He leaned forward and kissed Gail on the mouth, and she kissed him back, touching his face with both of her hands. She looked into his beautiful blue eyes. They had never been purple, because it had never happened. Cas wrapped his arms around her, holding her more tightly. He could do that because her body had no marks on it, because it had never happened.

"All right, you two," Bobby said sternly. "According to the GPS, there's a shopping centre up ahead. We'll stop in there and get Gail a jacket, and give this bucket of bolts a rest. The thing's starting to sound like a lawn mower with an asthma problem."

They parked in the parking lot and walked into the mall. Chuck was bemused. He was so used to popping around now that it felt strange to be driving a car again. Not that it was much of a car, but, still. Unfortunately, Dean had been absolutely right when he'd called it a lemon. Chuck looked apprehensively up at the mountain pass on the horizon. He hoped the car would be able to make it up there.

"I'm sorry, guys, I'll be as quick as I can," Gail said to the men as they entered the concourse.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Cas asked her.

"No, it'll probably be faster if I go by myself," she told him. Then she smiled. "I will need some money, though. Have you got any on you?"

"Sure. How much do you need?" Cas asked her, taking his wallet out of his pants pocket.

Gail frowned. "I'm not sure. I haven't bought a jacket or a coat in ages. How much have you got?"

He looked in his wallet and handed her a sheaf of bills. "I exchanged our American money for local currency when I rented the cars," he told her. "Here, why don't you just take it all?"

"Now, THAT'S the kind of married people I'm used to seeing," Bobby quipped, as Gail took the money from Cas. "The wife goes shopping, and the husband foots the bill." Gail looked at Bobby, trying to be angry. But his beard was twitching, and she couldn't help but smile. He hadn't had a whole lot to joke around about, lately.

Gail put her hand on Cas's arm. "Take Bobby to the Food Court and get him a cinnamon bun and a coffee," she said to her husband. "He's obviously cranky when he's hungry." She handed Cas back one of the bills he'd just given to her and then turned around to go into the store as the men laughed.

A short while later, Gail had her new winter jacket. She had been relieved to find out that it had cost a lot less than Cas had given her. But then, on her way out of the store, she had walked by the cosmetics counter and stopped, looking at the skin cream. Maybe, since she had quite a bit of money left, she should buy some, and try to take care of that mark on her neck. So she purchased a jar of the cream and put it in the pocket of her jacket. Then she met up with the men in the Food Court. Bobby was just finishing up his coffee, and he looked on, surprised, as Gail handed Cas back the change from her purchases.

"Okay, THAT, I've never seen," Bobby remarked, his beard twitching again.

Gail laughed. His sense of humour had definitely improved since he'd been turned back into a human; at least, in her opinion. But she'd better not tell him that, or he would probably get crabby again. She wondered how Sam and Dean had dealt with him all those years. It was funny, really; it seemed like the Winchesters were almost scared of Bobby, sometimes. Whenever he spoke in that authoritarian voice that he had, they snapped to, that was for sure. From what she'd been able to discern, once their birth father had died, Bobby had taken over as a father figure to them. Actually, he was a father figure to them all, now. She wished he was still God. A lot of their current problems would probably be non-existent if that were still the case.

"What?" Bobby said to Gail.

"Nothing," she responded. "I just wanted to tell you that we all love you, Bobby." She gave him a hug, and he looked at her strangely. "What else did you buy at that store?" he asked her. "Happy pills?"

"No, but if you think that would help your attitude, I'll go back and get some," she said pertly.

Bobby shook his head slowly. "Let's go," he said to his small group. "We'd better try to get there before it gets dark. It'll be a lot easier to push that rust-bucket up the hill if we can actually see the hill."

They did make it up the mountain pass, but just barely. Chuck had been nervous, so he had asked Bobby if he would mind taking over the driving once they got to the foot of the pass. So they had switched places, and Bobby had nursed and cursed the car up the incline to the public parking lot at the foot of the castle.

He shut off the engine and they all got out of the car, weak-kneed.

"Wow," Chuck said dazedly. "A couple of times there I thought for sure we were just going to have to wink Bobby out of the thing and let it roll down the hill."

"That's probably just what the car rental place had in mind," Bobby fumed. "Save them the towing fees to come haul it away."

"I must say, you used a couple of expressions I've never heard before," Gail quipped. "I think I even saw Cas blush a couple of times."

Bobby frowned. "I'm sorry, dear. I don't usually say things like that in the presence of ladies. But I was afraid the son of a whore was gonna fall right off the mountain."

Gail looked at Chuck, and the two of them burst out laughing. Cas smiled absently, but he was looking up at the castle now. It was a splendid structure, the very picture of a classic palace. He could see why it was a popular tourist attraction. He felt very strongly that the Tablet was in there somewhere.

Cas took Gail's hand, and the four of them walked up the hill and into the castle. Their four friends were waiting for them in the vestibule.

"Finally!" Dean said, smirking. "We were about to call Triple A!"

"Very funny," Bobby said grumpily. "Damn car nearly took five years off me, just trying to get up that hill."

"We've been here for quite a while," Frank said enthusiastically. "Look at all the stuff I got." He started opening the bags he was holding, to show them.

"He's still trying to claim the stuff's for Robbie," Jody said, rolling her eyes. Then she smiled at Cas and Gail. "But I do have to thank you for giving up your seats. That was one sweet ride."

"In retrospect, it was just as well I had the three Angels with me," Bobby said. "Since I'm not one any more myself, with that car, I needed all the divine intervention I could get."

Sam and Dean exchanged glances. "Now I feel a little bit guilty about sticking you with that piece of crap," Dean said.

"Good, 'cause we're switching cars on the way back," Bobby said. "I'm gonna go ask what time the next tour starts."

He brushed past the Winchesters, and Gail giggled at the look on their faces. "Yeah, Dean," she said sassily.

Bobby came back to get them, advising that the next tour was due to start in twenty minutes. "I'm not sure if we really need it, though," he told everyone.

Cas nodded. He sighed. "Since we don't really know exactly what we're looking for, why don't we just walk around for a bit and get a sense of the layout of the place? We'll have to come back after hours to mount a proper search, anyway."

They all fanned out to look around. Aside from the inevitable gift shop in the front, the castle seemed more like a museum than a tourist trap. It was a large, magnificent structure, with multiple rooms and exhibits. Parts of the rooms were roped off, and there were some doors marked "Authorized Personnel Only", in several languages.

"If there is a Tablet here, it may very well be in those areas," Cas remarked to the group quietly. "They would be unaware of its significance. Or, it could be in a secret passageway, or in the sub-basement as the Heaven Tablet was, in Rome." He smiled at Gail, and she smiled back. That had been the best Tablet quest, as far as they were concerned. "We'll have to come back at night-time."

"Unless we can sneak into one of those places," Dean said. "Why wait until dark? I'm pretty sure I can get into the basement right now." He headed towards a staircase at the side of the salon, grabbing the velvet rope and unhooking it. Suddenly, a hand came down on his arm, and Dean swung his head around to behold a massive security guard. Dean's eyes widened. The guy was taller than Sam, and he had to run at least 375 pounds.

"You're not allowed to go down there, Sir," the security guard said to him. "That's why the rope is there."

"Oh, THAT'S why the rope is there," Dean said good-naturedly. He'd better make nice with this guy, before he smacked him into next week. "Sorry. I'm an American. We're kind of stupid, sometimes." He smiled ingratiatingly.

"So I've noticed," the guard said, frowning. He pulled on Dean's arm.

"Hey, you don't have to be so rough - " Dean peered up at the guard's name tag, on the chest of his uniform " - 'Ass-Laugh'?"

"My name is Aslaf," the man growled.

"Sorry," Dean said quickly, with a sheepish grin.

The security guard let go of him, but he continued to stand in front of the staircase with his massive arms folded, almost as if he expected Dean to challenge him.

Dean moved away from the guard. "Geez, with a name like 'Ass-Laugh', you'd think the guy would have a sense of humour," he mumbled.

Everyone was quiet, and then Gail started to laugh. She'd felt giggly ever since the car ride. Maybe it was because she'd been so happy to receive the additional confirmation that Cas had never been a Demon, or maybe it was just because she felt light-headed from Jason's feedings. Or maybe she was just happy to be here with all of the people that she loved the most. In any event, once she started to laugh, she couldn't stop. Every time her giggles started to subside, she would look at Dean, and then she would go off again. It was so stupid, but so funny, and so freeing, all at the same time. She laughed so hard that she snorted, which made her laugh even more.

As soon as Gail snorted, Dean started to laugh, too. Then he snorted, and tears were streaming from her eyes as she kept on laughing. Sam was grinning. He'd seen the two of them trading quips before, but he had never seen Gail like this, and it was extremely rare to see Dean laugh like that.

"I guess this is where the expression 'gales of laughter' comes from," Sam said affably, still grinning.

Gail continued to laugh, and her stomach was starting to hurt now. She was leaning on Dean for support. His laughter had tapered off, but he was still smiling widely, looking very pleased with himself. Just as it appeared that she was finally getting herself under control, Dean looked at her with a serious expression.

"Gail?" he said.

"Yeah, Dean?" she said, wiping her eyes with her hands.

"Ass-Laugh," he said gravely.

She burst into laughter again. By now, all of the other tourists were giving her dirty looks, but she was oblivious. Dean saw, but he didn't care. He was having too much fun winding her up.

Sam made eye contact with Cas. They'd better separate these two, before they got thrown out. "Here: you take yours, and I'll take mine," Sam said. He grabbed his brother by the arm and pulled him away from Gail. Cas put his arm around Gail's waist and gently steered her away from Dean.

Cas leaned down to Gail, and Dean grinned. Finally. Finally, she was going to be the one to get hell from Cas. This, he had to see.

Cas kissed Gail on the cheek, and then he looked up at Dean. "Please try to conduct yourself properly, Dean," Castiel chided him.

Dean nearly choked. "Me?!" he exclaimed indignantly. "But - she's - " Then he threw his hands up in frustration. "Man..." he whined, and then he gave up. Cas was shaking his head at Dean disapprovingly. Dean couldn't believe it. "Sammy - " he appealed to his brother, but all Sam could do was grin. "She misbehaves, Cas sticks up for her, and it's always me who gets the crap for it," Dean complained.

He looked over at Cas and Gail again. She had stopped laughing, but now she was smirking, and she stuck her tongue out at Dean as Cas led her away.

Dean sighed. "Sisters," he fumed out loud.

"Preach," Frank said, rolling his eyes. He extended his arm, and he and Dean high-fived smartly.

Cas led Gail out of the castle's front entrance, seating her on a bench outside. She was no longer laughing, but her breath was hitching, and she was wiping her eyes. He waited patiently while she collected herself.

Finally, she looked at him and said, "I'm sorry I made such a fool of myself. I don't know what got into me. I hope I didn't embarrass you too badly."

"You could never embarrass me," Cas told her. "It's wonderful to see you laugh, and it was wonderful to see Dean laughing like that, too. I give him a hard time sometimes because it's fun to do so, just the same as he does with me. But I would much rather see my wife and my best friend laughing together than crying." Then he looked stricken. "I'm sorry. I hope I didn't hurt your feelings by calling Dean my best friend. He's my best MALE friend. YOU'RE my best, best friend."

"With benefits," she added, smiling mischievously.

He looked puzzled for a moment. "But there are benefits to having Dean as a fri-" he started to say. Then, he got it. "Ohhh," Cas said, nodding. He smiled. "That is certainly true. And I hope to avail myself of some of those benefits when we get back home, once we get this Tablet." He squinted up at the sky. It had become more overcast, and a light snow had begun to fall. "I don't think there is much point in taking the formal tour of the castle," he continued. "But we'll have to wait until it closes to the public."

"Well, let's at least walk around a little, since we have some time to kill," she said, putting her hand on his arm. "I promise I'll behave. It's out of my system now. You know how it gets sometimes, when you start laughing, and you just can't stop."

"No, I don't," he said simply.

Gail looked at him sadly. Maybe he didn't. Come to think of it, she couldn't recall a time when she had seen him laugh like that. "Sweetie..." she started to say, but then she realized that she didn't know what to say. She reached out and touched his face, cupping his cheek with her hand. He nuzzled her hand for a moment, closing his eyes. Then he opened them and looked directly into her eyes.

"Up until I met you, I didn't really have much to be happy about," Cas told her. "But ever since you and I became one, I have never smiled, or laughed, as much as I do now. Even if I don't laugh out loud, please know that every moment I spend with you is the happiest I have ever been, and the happiest of my existence." He leaned forward to kiss her.

"Oh, you're kissing. What a shock," Bobby said dryly. He had come outside to find them. "The tour's about to start."

Cas took Gail's hand. "I think we'll pass, Bobby," he said to their friend. "If the rest of you want to go ahead, please do so. We'll meet you back in the vestibule in about an hour. OK?"

Bobby rolled his eyes. These two. They probably wanted to go somewhere and make out for an hour. Just like a couple of teenagers. But, it was really none of his business. They'd always been like this. That was why it had been such a mystery to everyone when they had broken up, shortly after their ordeal in the cabin. From what Bobby understood, Gail had told Cas to get lost, and that was why Cas had moved to Canada for a while. But he could tell the breakup wasn't going to stick. You could just see it in their eyes whenever they saw the other one, or even when the other's name was mentioned. Bobby didn't usually engage in gossip, but he had talked to the boys about it, and they'd had no clue, either. All Gail did back then was cry, and Cas wasn't talking. Everyone had thought it was really weird. Dean thought that Cas had said or done something to really piss Gail off, and she was making him do some penance before allowing him to come back. Sam had seemed to think it ran deeper than that, and he'd had a bit of a hopeful look in his eyes when he'd said that. But then the car accident had happened, Cas had sent Sam and Gail back in time, and then Cas and Gail had eventually gravitated back together. And Bobby had been glad. If ever a couple was supposed to be together, it was Cas and Gail. Bobby loved Sam like he was his own son, but he knew that Sam and Gail could never be a couple, not really. Everyone thought that Bobby was an old curmudgeon, and in a lot of ways, he was. But he also had a big heart, and he cared about them all, very much. Even Cas, though they were frequently at loggerheads with each other. Bobby loved little Gail as he would his own daughter, if he'd ever been lucky enough to have one, and he'd been a little angry at Cas for whatever it was he might have done to make Gail so upset. But it had all worked out in the end, and now the two of them were happily married.

"OK, we'll see you in about an hour, then," Bobby said without further comment, and he headed back inside.


	4. The Enemy Within

Chapter 4 - The Enemy Within

Rowena watched as Bobby walked back into the castle, and the Angels stood from the bench and began to walk towards the souvenir stands out on the promenade. She smiled, despite herself. Angels, looking at vampiric souvenirs? The idea was amusing.

She'd arrived here in Romania this morning. She had known where the group her son would call the God Squad was right away, and she had been looking for an opportunity to talk to Bobby alone. But so far, he had stayed right in the midst of everyone. The humans didn't worry Rowena, and neither did Chuck, even though she should probably not let Chuck see her. As far as Rowena was aware, he had never figured out her true identity, and she would just as soon keep it that way. But she'd really wanted to avoid Castiel, if she could. He was the only one in that group who might pose a real threat to Rowena, although Gail might be a more formidable foe these days, also.

But now that those two Angels were separating from the group, Rowena saw her chance. She adjusted the black wig she was wearing and began to walk down the promenade towards the castle. When Cas and Gail approached her, walking hand in hand, she averted her head. They weren't looking her way, anyway. And then they passed by her, and she continued on towards the castle. She turned her head briefly, just to make sure that they were continuing on, and someone bumped into her, hard. She turned back angrily, opening her mouth to hex the individual.

"So, the rumours are true, then. Hello, Mother," Crowley said.

"You two need your fortunes read."

As Cas and Gail were walking down the promenade, a Rom woman grabbed Cas by the arm. She had been sitting on a lawn chair in front of her tent, just waiting for some gullible tourists to go by. She made quite a good living pitching her tent here a few times a week, telling fortunes for people who wanted to hear spooky things from a real Romanian gypsy. Either that, or it was a group of girls, wanting to know who their husbands were going to be, or who might secretly love them. In any event, Rupa knew how to read her clients, and what they were looking for.

But her heart had skipped a beat when she'd seen these two. She may be a charlatan as far as the tourists were concerned, but Rupa was a full-blooded Rom going back many generations, and she knew her lore. She just didn't waste her real talents on the tourists, because none of them really wanted a true fortune, anyway. But these two were Angels, seeking to defeat Lucifer, and there were some very hard things that they needed to hear.

So Rupa had stood from the chair and seized Cas's arm.

He looked at her, startled. She was a short woman, almost as short as Gail, but her eyes were darker, almost Demon black, and her gaze was penetrating. The woman was dressed in stereotypical gypsy fashion. She must think that he and Gail were tourists. Maybe things had been slow, and she was looking to drum up some business.

But when he grasped her hand to remove it from his arm, she repeated, "You and your wife need your fortunes told. You face many challenges ahead. Even when you resolve the current one, the sources of the next few may surprise you."

Cas laughed shortly. "While what you say is no doubt accurate, it is also a very general, sweeping statement. We are not the people you seek."

"No, Castiel?" Rupa retorted. Suddenly, when he had put his hand on hers, she had known his name, and that of his wife.

Cas's eyes flashed briefly. "Who are you?"

"My name is Rupa," she replied. "I am a Rom, and my family goes back many generations. Family lore says that we were here during the time of Vlad Tepes himself. I have the gift, as did my mother, and her mother before her. I just don't waste it on the tourists. Come in, and I will lay the cards for you and Gail."

Cas looked at Gail. This reminded him of the time that they had gone into the tent at the fair. Only that time, it had been Oliver there, and he had been waving a gun around, ranting about Lucifer. This woman was calm, but she was oddly insistent.

Gail was thinking of Oliver as well, but she was also thinking of Quinn. This woman could very well be legitimate. She had known their names. Maybe they should at least listen to what she had to say. Gail nodded at Cas, and the two of them followed Rupa into her tent.

Before they sat down, Cas opened his jacket to show the psychic his Demon knife. "I also have other types of weapons," he told her calmly. "And if you are who you claim, you know that both myself and my wife have otherworldly powers, as well." He was thinking not only of Demons, but Leviathans, who had the ability to shapeshift.

Rupa sat down behind the table. "I mean you no harm, Castiel," she said. "Please. Sit."

Cas pulled out the other chair for Gail, and then he sat down himself. Rupa smiled. "Old-world manners," she remarked. "You don't see that very often, these days." She peered closer at the couple. "Actually, with your colouring, either one of you could be part Rom. Mind you, you've been many people over the years, haven't you, Castiel? And you, Gail? I feel that you have, as well."

"We have to be somewhere shortly," Cas said, tight-lipped. He still wasn't certain about this.

"I understand," Rupa said. "I will read you, first." She extended a deck of Tarot cards to Cas. "Pick one, please, and place it face down on the table." Cas did so, and then Rupa extended the cards to Gail. "Please pick the second card for your husband," the psychic said to her. Gail did, and she put the card she had picked on the table next to the one Cas had picked.

Rupa touched the card Cas had chosen. "Matthew did not commit suicide," she told him gravely, and his eyes widened.

"What? How do you know that?" he exclaimed.

"I am Rom," Rupa said, shrugging.

"What happened to him, then?" Cas demanded. "Was he murdered?"

"I can only tell what I see," she replied. "That is all I see. Now, I will read you."

"Fergus," Rowena said sweetly. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Sightseeing," he said shortly. "I would ask the same of you. You're supposed to be in the Netherworld."

"I have friends in high places," Rowena said pertly. She looked him up and down. "And in low ones, as well." She smiled. She hadn't expected to come face to face with him this soon, but this might be kind of fun. She always did like winding him up. "So, have you picked a side yet, Fergus?" she asked him airily.

Crowley rolled his eyes. "For the millionth time, it's Crowley. I'm the King of Hell, Mother. That's which side I'm on."

She raised her eyebrows. "Oh, really? Because the last time I heard, the Angel Gail was wearing your bollocks for earrings."

Crowley laughed without humour. "You're wrong about that. I'll admit that there was a time I was a little too helpful to the Angels. But that time has passed. I have aligned myself with Lucifer now. Actually, I'm surprised you're not in bed with Lucifer, yourself. And I'm not just speaking metaphorically."

"I did spend a short time in his employ," Rowena sniffed disdainfully. "But he's a paper tiger. A tin god. I follow no man, Fergus. If you want some free advice, I would be very careful with him, if I were you."

"Thank you for that oh-so-helpful advice, Mother," Crowley said sarcastically. It was advice he surely didn't need. If she thought for one minute that he trusted Lucifer, she didn't know her son very well. Lucifer thought that Crowley was here on his behalf. The Devil was physically unable to get anywhere near the Tablets because of the warding, so he had asked the King of Hell to go, instead. And that was just fine with Crowley. Not that it was any of his mother's business, of course.

Rupa turned over the first card. "The Knight of Swords," she announced, tapping her fingernail on the card. "Violence is your way."

Cas nodded sadly. Unfortunately, that was true.

"But," Rupa continued, "this card can also represent the start and the end of hostility, or conflict."

He frowned. He'd been hoping to hear more than just generalities or platitudes from this woman. One could interpret that statement in many different ways. He and Gail appeared to be on the verge of ending their hostilities with Metatron, if he truly had changed. On the other hand, they had recently renewed hostilities with Crowley. Castiel hoped they were nearing the end of their hostilities with Lucifer, once their quests were successful. But again, he was the one who was supplying the interpretation.

"You can be perceived as being emotionless, but nothing could be further from the truth," Rupa went on. "Rather, you suppress your emotions. You are afraid of your feelings, because you feel things too strongly."

Gail smiled thinly. She could totally see that. Luckily, he didn't seem to do that so much with her any more.

"You have always been capable of making the hard choices, because you refuse to back down from what is right," Rupa said, "but your rage can get out of control if you allow it to. There is a difference between revenge and righteousness, Castiel. You will do well to remember that, when the time comes."

Cas regarded her curiously. Now she was zeroing in on his personality more specifically. She was still being rather vague, but what she'd said resonated with him strongly.

"There will be a wedding in the New Year," Rupa said.

Now Cas was losing his patience. This was the kind of thing he would expect to hear from someone's aunt, at a child's birthday party. He looked at Gail. "Let's go," he said to her, and he made to rise.

Rupa slammed her hand down on the table. "I have not finished, Castiel!"

Cas was so startled that he plunked back down in his chair. The psychic's eyes were blazing now. "You think that I am a fraud, but I am not," she said coldly. "I see many things, Castiel. Too many for you to even comprehend." She looked at Gail. "Your sister-in-law needs to go to that doctor." Then she looked back at Cas. "And, your brother is closer than you think. He means to take the object that you seek." Rupa sat back in her chair, folding her arms. "Now, will you remain for the rest of your reading?"

Gail gasped, and Cas looked at her. She told him quickly and quietly what Frank had told her about Jody. And the psychic was telling them that Crowley was nearby, looking to steal the Hell Tablet? "That, I could totally believe," Gail said to him.

She looked at Rupa. "We apologize. Please continue."

"So you'll be here for the Tablet, of course," Rowena said to her son. He looked at her in surprise. "Yes, I know all about those," she said casually. "And I also know that Lucifer can't get near them. So I suppose he's sent you here to fetch it for him."

Crowley was angry. "I do not play fetch, Mother. I am a King."

"Yes, of course you are, dearie," Rowena said soothingly. Then she crouched down for a moment. "Here, King. Here, Boy," she said, mockingly, as if calling for a dog.

Crowley's eyes flashed red. He waved his hand and Rowena stood back up, then she staggered back from him a bit. Sometimes she forgot that her son had some daunting powers of his own. Maybe she had better conclude this conversation before he remembered that, too.

"So, you are here to obtain the Tablet for Lucifer, then?" she persisted, rephrasing her prior question.

Crowley chuffed a breath. "Ostensibly."

Rowena eyed him. "And what does that mean?"

"Ostensibly: adverb. Apparently or purportedly, but perhaps not actually," he said sarcastically. "I believe that's Webster's definition of the word."

"And now, we will look at the card your wife chose for you," Rupa said to Cas. She turned it over. "Oh. The King of Wands."

Gail gave Cas a small smile. "I must have had our wizard book series on the brain when I chose that one," she said to him.

"This card represents a natural leader and commander," Rupa told them. "When he talks, people listen. He is much more compassionate than people realize; he simply doesn't get the chance to demonstrate that quality as much, because he's always being thrust into contentious situations. He has a deep and innate respect for those who have earned his respect, and for the beliefs systems of others." She gave the couple a tight smile. "I would have been able to tell that this was the card your wife had picked, even if I hadn't seen her do so with my own eyes," Rupa said to Castiel. "These two cards represent the duality of your nature. You see yourself as a violent individual, whereas your wife sees you as a great and respected leader. But, you both recognize your unlimited capacity for love, and compassion."

Cas and Gail were clasping hands and smiling warmly at each other now. Cas was very happy. Gail was demonstrating her love for him again now, and apparently, she even did so subconsciously. She had taken the worst quality he saw in himself and turned it into a positive thing. She believed that he was actually the version of himself that he wanted to be, the best version.

"But," Rupa said, suppressing the urge to smile herself, " sometimes he injects himself into situations where his assistance isn't actually needed, and sometimes, he can make things worse, by doing what he thinks is the right thing to do. And, he always thinks that what he's doing is the right thing to do."

Gail's lips were twitching now, as she tried to prevent her smile from turning into a grin. "Oh, well, the cards giveth, but then they taketh away," she quipped. She looked at Rupa. Now the fortune teller was talking her language.

Cas was looking askance at both women now. Was he sure they didn't know each other? If he didn't know better, he would swear that Gail had put the psychic up to that last part.

"But, the bottom line is that you are the Warrior of Light, Castiel. You will always stand up for the people and the principles that matter to you the most."

Gail squeezed her husband's hand. "'The Warrior of Light'," she repeated. "I really like that, Cas. It sounds noble, and wonderful."

He looked at her doubtfully. It did, though, didn't it? Was that supposed to be him? How could he possibly live up to Gail's lofty expectations of him?

"Once you have all of the items you need, you will have to go back to the Bible," Rupa continued. "The end, to the very beginning, and back to the very end. The path will be thorny, but it must be traversed."

"I know what 'ostensibly' means, Fergus," Rowena said with a touch of irritation. "So, what do you plan to do with the Tablet once you obtain it?"

"Lucifer wants me to destroy it," Crowley replied in a casual tone. "If even one of the Tablets is no more, the chain will be broken, and he can never be encaged again."

"Are you sure you're not an Angel?" Gail quipped, looking at the psychic. "What does any of that even mean?"

Rupa regarded her evenly. The girl's heart was in the right place, she knew, but she obviously still had a lot to learn about the way that things worked in their world. She would be learning soon, that was for sure. Castiel was experienced with hard lessons, but Gail had a lot of catching up to do. Like, thousands of years' worth.

The Rom woman extended the deck of Tarot cards across the table. Gail picked a card out of the deck and put it face down on the table, then Cas did the same.

Rupa looked at Gail. "You and your husband have concealed things from each other in the past," the Rom woman said to her. "You feel that I am too enigmatic? Well then, here is some plain talk for you, my girl. If you endeavour to practice dark magic behind Castiel's back, you will lose him."

"Which would be the best case scenario for HIM, of course," Crowley continued. "But Lucifer's off his nut. This is the Hell Tablet we're talking about. That's my realm, not his. That won't be happening. It was the Demon Tablet that set him free in the first place. I made a mistake there. I freely admit that now. I just sat on the damn thing. I had it in my possession, and I did nothing with it. It was used by others to attempt to destroy me, and then it was destroyed. But now, I have a second chance. A while back, one of my former acolytes accused me of being reactive instead of proactive, and I've decided that he was right. I'm not going to destroy the bloody thing. Why would I?"

Gail stared at Rupa. Was the woman nuts? "Dark magic?" she retorted. "What the hell are you talking about? I'm an Angel!" She looked at Castiel. "She's full of - "

"I said, IF," Rupa said loudly. "So...what? Suddenly, my plain talk is not what you desire? I was not accusing you of doing it, I was merely cautioning you against the temptation to do it."

Gail laughed shortly. "Oh. Well. All right, then. I don't think there's much danger of that."

Rupa gazed at her steadily. It was to be denial, then, was it? Although, to be fair, they hadn't gotten there, yet. Gail had not yet been confronted with the type of desperate situation that would lead her to consider the darkest magic of all. But she would, Oh, yes. She would.

She turned over the card that Gail had chosen for herself, and her eyebrows shot up. The High Priestess! It was extremely rare for anyone to select this card, especially for themselves. As the cards were shuffled and presented face down, it would be easy enough to believe that they were chosen at random. But the cards chose the picker, just as the wands chose their owners in that book series about witchcraft that the Angels somewhat incongruously enjoyed. Rupa's entire belief system was based on the premise that none of this was random.

"Much of your power and ability is still shrouded in mystery," she told Gail. "But you have demonstrated that you can use your powers on yourself to transform yourself, if you truly believe that such a thing is possible."

Gail kept herself from rolling her eyes, through sheer will power. "Sounds like Disney, or something," she said, with just a touch of disdain. Was that even real, or was that just like one of those so-called affirmations that Gail and Chuck used to make fun of?

"Intuition is very powerful within you," the Rom woman continued, seemingly oblivious to Gail's sarcasm. Okay, Gail had to admit that statement was certainly true. She'd had psychic powers herself, when she had first met Cas and the Winchesters, and been thrust into this world. And even though those powers had largely dissipated, she still got very strong intuitions from time to time, and she could not recall an instance when they'd ever been wrong.

"Everything you need to know already exists within you," Rupa went on.

Now, Gail did roll her eyes; she couldn't help it. "Really?" she said irritably. "What is this, a reading, or a Tony Robbins infomercial?"

The Rom woman was staring at Gail now, and her expression went very dark.

"One of the people you love the most will die soon," Rupa snarled viciously. "Is that what you wanted to hear? Are you that anxious to have your heart broken?"

Then the psychic looked at Castiel, and Gail's heart flew into her mouth. Surely she couldn't mean...? No, she was just saying that to be spiteful now, because Gail had disrespected her and her fortune-telling. Maybe even her culture. But did she have to be so mean about it? Then again, Gail had chosen to come in here in the first place, hadn't she?

"I apologize," she said to the woman. "I promise I'll listen quietly."

Rupa nodded. That was better. After a moment, she said, "You can be passive-aggressive, sometimes."

Yeah, no kidding, Gail thought. Like right now. I'm just sitting here, when I should be getting up and walking out of this tent, and away from all this nonsense. But she felt compelled to stay to the end now, just to see what else the woman was going to say.

Rupa looked at Gail sharply, almost as if she was reading her thoughts now, too. But then the psychic said in a calm voice, "Sometimes, goals can be achieved through inaction, as well. Yours and your husband's qualities balance each other very nicely. You are the yin to his yang, in many respects. Castiel tends to want to act first and discuss the validity of his decisions later, but that type of rash behaviour can frequently carry consequences. On the other hand, you are very much different, Gail. Fear of making a bad decision can paralyze you, so much so that you will often retreat, opting to make no decision at all. But that is not the way, either. You will be called upon to make some hard decisions in the weeks and months ahead, and many times, no decision can be just as bad as the wrong decision."

Rupa's gaze was penetrating as she stared at Gail. "You have an innate dark side, one that has existed in you since birth. That is another dubious quality that you and your husband share. But his was born of Original Sin, jealousy and homicide, and fostered during the Angel Wars. Yours is hereditary, my girl, and it has been brought out to flourish in your current incarnation, stirred by the Demon blood that you received years ago from the King of Hell himself. But if you learn how to harness that quality, as your husband is learning now, you can put it to use for the side of Good."

The Rom woman now included Cas in her stare. "Soon, the world will descend into chaos, and it will appear as if Evil has won. But you must not lose sight of who you are, and why you are here. You must dance to your own music, not the Devil's."

"The Hell Tablet belongs to me," Crowley told his mother. "Not the Angels, not Lucifer. Me. I will let them lead me to it, and then I will have it for myself."

Rowena was impressed. That was more like it. Seemingly, her son still did have his bollocks, after all. "I can help you, if you like," she said to him.

"You?" he scoffed. "The only reason you're still alive right now is because of all these humans around us. I don't want anything alerting our merry little band to my presence before they lead me to that Tablet. But once I am in possession of it, I would stay well away, if I were you."

"I can help, Fergus," she insisted. "I have ways to deal with the Angels that you do not."

"See, right there," Crowley said, tight-lipped. "Right there, you might have convinced me to give you a listen, if you hadn't called me Fergus. You will call me 'Majesty', just before I lop off your head. Or maybe I'll just go old school and burn you at the stake. I've had some success with that method in the past. I guess you don't remember." He smiled to himself at the memory. After he'd done it to Guinevere, he'd had her handmaiden trussed up and thrown on the fire, just for good measure. Just for having red hair and a Scottish accent.

Rowena shrugged. "Suit yourself, then. I could be of assistance to you, though. You seem to forget, I'm a very powerful witch."

Crowley laughed shortly. "No, what you are is a treacherous, back-stabbing bitch. Enjoy the remainder of your short life, Mother."

Then he walked away from her and she stared after him, open-mouthed. Rowena had never admired her son more than she did at that moment.

"And now, we will look at the card that your husband chose for you," Rupa said to Gail.

Despite the gravity of what the psychic had just said, Cas smiled, and his stomach fluttered. He still loved it when he and Gail were referred to as husband and wife. He would never tire of hearing that, and he would never take it for granted.

Rupa turned over the card, and then she smiled, too. "The Queen Of Cups. Once again, I'm not surprised you picked this card for your wife, Castiel. You obviously love her very much."

Cas took Gail's hand in his as Rupa looked at Gail. "You reflect others' qualities back to them, so they can see themselves as they truly are. Yet, you yourself remain a mystery to many people, in many ways. Even to your own husband, sometimes. In fact, sometimes your secrets are invisible even to yourself, and your motivations are occasionally a mystery. Just when people think they have you figured out, you constantly surprise them."

Cas continued to smile. "All of that is certainly true," he said, looking at Gail. "Life with you is never dull. You are constantly surprising me."

She lifted an eyebrow to him, wondering if that was his diplomatic way of saying that nobody really knew why the hell she was the way she was, half of the time. Well, at least now, she had an excuse. Hey, the gypsy said.

But Cas was looking a little too happy right now, and Gail looked at him suspiciously. He would also have an excuse, then, wouldn't he? My wife is crazy. Hey, the gypsy said.

"I'd be very careful about the next words that come out of your mouth, if I were you," she told Cas, but now she was smiling, too. How could she not? He was adorable.

Cas was thinking the exact same thing about Gail, and Rupa was looking at the both of them now, regretting that she'd been so blunt with them before. But the cards said what they said, and the future was hardly going to be all hearts and flowers. It never would be for these two, no matter how much in love they were.

Still, the psychic's expression softened as she addressed Gail again: "You attract others to you, because your real beauty lies in the purity of your spirit."

"Once again, the cards are entirely accurate," Cas remarked. He was beaming now, very glad that was the card he had chosen for her. The psychic was describing the best qualities in her now, the way that Cas saw them.

"Oh. Well, I guess I can quit moisturizing, then," Gail quipped, "if my true beauty lies within." She was a little embarrassed now. She wasn't used to hearing things like that about herself.

"You have wondrous fantasies, and a vivid imagination," Rupa continued. Gail smiled to herself. Maybe she was the one who should be writing scripts for the Supernatural movie. Boy, could she give them some plotlines.

Rupa was frowning now. "But, be careful that your dreams are not ones that are out of reach," she cautioned Gail.

Gail gave Cas's hand a squeeze. "No worries there," she said softly. "I've already got my dream, and he's sitting right here next to me."

Cas's heart melted. "I'm so glad you feel that way," he told her.

Rupa scooped up the cards, reuniting them with the rest of the deck. "Our time here is at a close. So I will leave you with one more word of advice. The heart may see farther, but sometimes, you have to look with your eyes."

Cas and Gail looked at each other quizzically. Cas was the master when it came to enigmatic statements, but he couldn't hold a candle to this woman.

Rupa smiled. "It takes evil to find evil, Castiel. Good luck, and Godspeed to you and Gail."

The Angels stood and left the tent. The light snow had stopped, but the sky had become even more overcast. "We'd better get back and rejoin the others," Cas said. "It's going to get dark fairly early. We will go for dinner, and then we will come back when the place is closed to the public. I'm fairly confident we'll be able to get the Tablet tonight, because I feel sure it's in there." He looked down at Gail. "And then, we'll make sure that Jody goes to the doctor, when we get back home."

Gail nodded. "I was going to do that, anyway. I'm sure she meant what she said about getting it checked out, but we've got to make sure that she does. I hope she's not too mad at Frank for telling me."

Cas shrugged. "We'll be discreet about it. But I would rather have her angry than...well, let's just say that it beats the alternative."

"What about all those dire warnings she was giving us, Cas? Someone close to me is going to die? Crowley wants to get his hands on the Tablet? Now that one, I could totally see," Gail said, making a face.

"I will deal with him," Cas said grimly. "He is dreaming if he thinks that's going to happen."

"And what about all that other stuff, Cas?" she asked him worriedly. "What about the world descending into chaos, and not dancing to the Devil's music?"

Cas's lips pursed. He'd been thinking about that, too. Out of all of the things that Rupa had said to them, that one had arguably been the most troubling. He sighed. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

"How accurate do you think all of that was, Cas?" she persisted.

"It's hard to say," he said mildly. "As we both know, it's a very inexact science." But now, he wasn't being straight with her. Cas felt certain that every word the Rom woman had uttered was the truth. But Gail had her own worry line etched into her forehead now. He bent down to kiss it away, then took her hand again, leading her towards the castle.

They found their group in the main salon, just finishing up the tour.

"Where have you guys been?" Frank asked them.

"We went for a walk along the Promenade," Cas told him. "You know how your sister likes cool, fresh air."

"Oh, you were 'walking'," Dean said, smirking. "Right."

"Whatever, Dean," Gail said, rolling her eyes.

Dean glanced briefly behind his shoulder. "I hope my buddy Ass-Laugh doesn't work the night shift," he said, lowering his voice. "He followed us on the tour, giving me the stink-eye the whole time."

"Gee, Dean, I can't imagine why," Gail retorted. "Maybe it's because you keep calling him 'Ass-Laugh'." She pointed a finger at her friend. "And don't start with me. I don't want to start laughing again."

"Is there a problem here?" Suddenly, Aslaf was looming behind Dean, frowning down at Gail. This was the woman who had made such a spectacle of herself earlier, and there was just something about these two that rubbed the security guard the wrong way.

Gail looked up at him. Wow. He WAS a big one.

"No, no problem," Dean said nervously.

"Well then, I suggest you move along," Aslaf said.

"What do you mean?" Gail said irritably. "We're just standing here talking. We're not bothering anyone."

"Gail..." Dean said warningly.

"What?" she shot back. "We're not doing anything wrong!" she said to the guard.

"You were creating a disturbance earlier," the man said to her. "Bothering everyone." He put his hand on her arm. "Move along, please," he repeated.

"Get your paw off of me," Gail protested. "I'm not going anywhere!"

"Gail..." Dean said again. Man, she was gonna get him killed. "Let's just do what the man says."

"No, Dean!" she said stubbornly. "There's no reason for us to go anywhere." She looked up at Aslaf. "Go harass someone else," she said defiantly. "We'll move when we're good and ready."

Dean winced. He saw Aslaf's expression darken. Oh, holy mother of crap. So, this was how he was going to die.

"What's the trouble?" Cas said. "What's going on?" He had been talking with Frank and Jody, but when he'd looked over and seen the security guard's hand on Gail's arm and heard her voice raise, he had come over right away.

"Dean and I were just standing here talking, and this guy's harassing us," Gail complained to him.

Cas looked up at Aslaf. Yes, this man was a very large individual. But, so had Goliath been. "You will take your hand off my wife immediately," Cas ordered Aslaf. His eyes flashed bright blue for a moment, startling the man, who took his hand from Gail, but stood his ground. Cas continued to stare up at him. "Do not test me," Cas said quietly. "It is you who will move along. Now."

After a moment, the security guard turned around and walked away. Dean breathed a sigh of relief. "Wow. I knew you could tame the animals, but this is ridiculous," he said to his friend. "I thought for sure he was going to wipe the floor with me. I was about to give Sammy my Last Will and Testament." He glared at Gail. "And you weren't gonna be in it."

"Me? Why?" she said, annoyed. "Why are you mad at me? What did I do?"

"Maybe you shouldn't be standing there sassing some guy who could wear my guts for suspenders," Dean shot back.

"You? But it was me who was - how did you put it? - 'sassing' him," Gail replied.

"First rule of bar fights," Dean offered up to the group.

"Doesn't matter what the woman says or does, it's the guy she's with that's gonna get the snot beat out of him," Bobby piped up.

"Thanks, Bobby," Dean nodded, looking at Gail. "What he said."

She stared at him. Was that true? She looked at Cas, who was also nodding, albeit reluctantly. "Unfortunately, that is true," he told her. Then he looked at Dean. "But you know we all would have backed you up, Dean."

"It would have TAKEN all of you, too," Dean wisecracked.

"I'm sorry, Dean. I never thought of it like that," Gail said, putting her hand on his arm.

"That's OK, we'll just sic Cujo there on him if he bothers us again," Dean told her, nodding at Cas.

"Look out, Dean, he's coming back," Sam said, pointing.

Dean grabbed Gail and dragged her out of the room as the others laughed. He hadn't been coming, of course; Sam just hadn't been able to resist.

They all walked outside. Cas looked over at the parking lot, brow furrowed. "I suggest we go back to the hotel for a good supper," he said. "Then we will change into dark clothing and Sam and Dean can bring whatever tools they think we'll need." He frowned. "And based on our earlier experience, I would also recommend bringing as many weapons as we can possibly carry."

Bobby extended his hand to Dean. "Keys," he said shortly. Dean stared at him. "Give 'em here," Bobby said. "I meant what I said earlier."

Dean sighed and dug into his pocket, forking over the keys to the Aston Martin.

"Gail, Cas, and Chuck, let's go," Bobby said, smiling.

But Cas shook his head. "It's all right, I'll take Dean and Sam and Jody and Frank back the Angel way." He smiled at Gail. "You and Chuck should have your ride in the 'cool' car."

"What about the TR7?" Frank asked.

"I don't think anyone should be driving it," Cas replied. "It seems too dangerous. Once we get the Tablet, we will contact the car rental agency and let them know where they can find it. That will have to do."

"It's all right, Cas, I don't care about the so-called 'cool car'," Gail said. She took his hand. "I think I'll just stick with the cool guy, instead."

Cas smiled so widely he almost dimpled, but Dean pretended to look around. "Cool guy?" he asked her. "Where?"

"Perhaps if we run into Aslaf tonight, you'll be able to deal with him on your own, then," Cas said archly, and everyone laughed again. Even Dean had to smile. Cas was getting a lot quicker with the quips these days. He clapped his friend on the shoulder. "OK, Cas," he said. "Good one. Let's go."

They were back in the dining room of the hotel, and Klara was fussing over them. The food kept coming, but everyone was sticking to soft drinks and coffee, even Dean. Klara had inquired about that fact, and they'd told her that they had overindulged that afternoon at a pub near the castle. She had smiled sympathetically, then left the subject alone.

Because Dean wasn't drinking, he had piled his plate high, and he was clearly enjoying his meal. At one point, Jody glared at him.

"What's the matter, Jodes?" he said, around a mouthful of food.

"Maybe swallow first, then ask me," she shot back.

He grinned, chewing with his mouth open just to annoy her further.

"Would you quit masticating so loudly?" Jody exclaimed. She'd chosen her words very carefully, of course.

Dean gave her a rare triple-take. "Quit...what?" he asked her, looking agitated.

"The more appropriate question might be: how does she know about that?" Chuck quipped.

"Well, she and Frank do have the room next to his," Sam chipped in, highly amused. He and Jody and Chuck started to laugh.

Jody had phrased it that way on purpose, of course. Before she had uttered her comment, the mood at the table had been very subdued. She had looked around the table and seen a bunch of tight, tense expressions. Jody had never worked well when she had been strung that tight, and she was pretty sure this group would be the same, based on the way they usually bantered with each other. So she had been looking to inject a little levity into the proceedings.

Gail was also laughing, and her eyes had pooled with tears from laughing so hard. She had stood to reach past Frank to get the butter to pass to Dean, and when she went to sit back down, she missed her chair entirely. She plunked down on the floor beside Frank, making him laugh, too. Cas dove for her, but she was still laughing, and she pulled him down on top of her when she clutched at him.

"Get a room, you guys," Sam said, grinning.

"Or, at least wait until after dinner," Dean piped up.

Jody was smiling. She hadn't expected all of this, but she'd gotten pretty much what she'd been hoping for. As Cas and Frank picked Gail up off the floor and deposited her into her chair, everyone at the table was laughing and smiling now.

"This day will henceforth be known as the day that Dean made Gail laugh so hard that she literally fell off her chair," Jody announced to the table.

"So let it be written, so let it be done," Frank added, grinning.

Cas smiled at the couple, realizing what they were doing. He appreciated their efforts to raise the morale at the table. He himself had been deep in thought about a number of things. What would they encounter when they got to the castle? How many more monsters from Purgatory were out there? And, most frightening of all, how many Leviathans?

He was hoping that Jody was right, and that Gail falling off her chair would truly be the thing that stood out about this day. That, and getting the Tablet, of course.

Cas looked at Gail. "Are you all right, my love?" he asked her.

"I'm fine, Cas," she replied. "My bum's a little sore, but the only thing that really took a hit was my dignity. I'm surprised you're even willing to go anywhere in public with me anymore, though," she continued. "I've certainly done my best to embarrass you today."

"You could never embarrass me," he said softly. He took her hands in his. "Just promise me you'll be very careful when we go out there. Don't hesitate to yell for help if you need it. OK?"

"I won't, Cas," she assured him. Gail knew what he was thinking, and she'd been thinking about it, too. She was sure that the monsters they'd encountered here at the hotel wouldn't have been the only ones. Also, the Rom fortune teller had advised that Crowley was near, looking to take the Tablet for himself. It was funny; Gail had started out hating and fearing him early on in her life, but eventually, their relationship had changed. There had been so many times that Crowley had been on the fringes of their group as a de facto ally that Gail had nearly forgotten who, or what, he truly was. Had there really been a time when she had felt warmth towards him? Yes. Admittedly, there had been. But the King of Hell was a confusing individual, arguably even more mysterious than Castiel, or even Gail herself. Deep down in her heart of hearts, she still believed that Crowley wasn't as black-hearted as he wanted everyone to believe. But she knew she had better not take that as a given, or underestimate him, or even have any expectations that any affection he might have felt for her centuries ago would save any of them today. If he had dropped the torch on her, he wouldn't hesitate to do it again, to her or any one of them.

"Excuse me," Jody said. She put her napkin on top of her plate and stood from the table.

Gail stood, too. "If you're going to the ladies' room, I'll come with," she said, trying to sound casual.

But that didn't fly, of course. "Since when do you go to the ladies' room?" Dean asked Gail, giving her a curious look.

"Since it was none of your business," she shot back.

Frank was looking at her strangely, but he said nothing, nor did Cas, who thought he might know why Gail wanted to talk to Jody in private. Cas had remained seated when Gail stood, which was a fairly recent innovation. He still pulled her chair out for her when she went to sit down anywhere, but Gail had talked to him a few times about popping up and down like a jack-in-the-box whenever she exited a room and then came right back. His old-school manners were one thing that had endeared him to her from the very beginning, but Gail had started to feel like it was becoming very onerous on him. She'd quipped that his knees were going to give out by the time they celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary. So Cas didn't do it any more, even though it went against his instincts.

Gail and Jody began to walk to the washroom. But as soon as they were out of view of their table, Gail stopped short.

"I forgot, I need to ask Cas something," she said to Jody. "You go on ahead. I was only going to wash my hands, anyway."

Jody gave her a peculiar look, but said, "OK," and continued on to the washroom.

Gail looked around wildly. There was no one in sight. She winked herself outside, to the back lawn of the hotel.

"It's about time," Jason said irritably.

Gail frowned, but she said nothing. Her eyes glazed over now, as soon as they looked into his. She had no idea why she'd had the compulsion to come out here like this. Why on earth was she not trying to kill Jason, or calling for Cas to help her? But all she did was just stand there, and when Jason approached her and pulled down the neck of her sweater, she still did nothing.

Jason fed, and then he said into her ear, "If your group finds the Tablet tonight, you will prevent them from taking it to the bunker. Sabotage the mission. Do you understand?"

Sabotage the mission? Was he nuts? But he looked into her eyes and she nodded.

"And another thing," Jason added. "Next time I feel hungry, you will call me, not the other way around. And maybe we'll arrange for Castiel to be there, just so he can see. What good is me having an affair with his wife if he doesn't find out about it?"

"We're not having an affair," Gail protested, spitting out the words. But she still didn't move. "You're disgusting."

"If I'm so disgusting, then why don't you leave?" Jason sneered. Then he smiled. "It's because you can't. You're mine, now."

Gail's stomach churned. "No, I'm not," she protested weakly. But then, why couldn't she move? Why didn't she call out for help?

Jason threw his head back and laughed, and Gail's stomach did another roll. It was a good thing she'd hardly eaten, or she'd be throwing up right now. She could see her blood on his fangs. What was she going to do? He was right; she couldn't leave, she couldn't raise a hand to him, and she knew she wouldn't be able to tell anyone about this, because the instant Jason left here, she would forget that it had ever happened.

"I'll see both you and your husband, very soon," Jason said. Then he turned his back on her and flew away.

Crowley was sitting in a pub near the castle, whiling away the time until Castiel's group came back. He was nursing a scotch, thinking about having bumped into his mother earlier this afternoon. It didn't even surprise him that she was somehow back from the Netherworld. Bad pennies always had a way of turning up.

He hoped there would be a way to snatch the Tablet away from them and wink it back to Hell without provoking a direct confrontation with his Brother. Crowley had no burning desire to kill Castiel at the moment. Not that he wouldn't enjoy it, of course, but Crowley was a pragmatist. Just because he had tipped over to Lucifer's side for the nonce didn't mean that he was going all in with Satan. Crowley was on Team Crowley. Once he took possession of the Hell Tablet and Lucifer found out about it, the Devil would have one of his temper tantrums, and then their ersatz alliance would be over. So killing Castiel would be counterproductive, because sooner or later, Lucifer would have to be contained. And as powerful as the King of Hell was, and he certainly was, he knew he couldn't do that alone.

Castiel was going to flip out, though, once he found out that Crowley had taken the Tablet for himself. But from what Crowley had seen around the castle, Castiel and his friends would have plenty of things to keep them occupied, once they got here. The King had seen an assortment of creatures gathering around the castle. Garden-variety monsters, vampires, and some of his own Demons, who Crowley had known to be in Purgatory. Really? Interesting. Then he had spotted a Leviathan walking down the Promenade, and the light bulb had gone on. Lucifer had opened the Portal somehow, and he was planning a surprise party for the God Squad.

Which led to another dilemma, of course. Crowley himself was not daunted by any of the monsters that could have come out of there, and he knew that Castiel and his Hunter posse could slice and dice their way through a horde of creatures while hardly breaking a sweat. But the Leviathans were a bit of a different kettle of fish. Lucifer was crazy if he thought that he could release Leviathans unto the Earth now, and then expect them to just meekly line up at the queue for the Portal when it was time for them to go back. Lucifer hadn't been here on Earth the last time the Leviathans had run rampant, but Crowley had, and the King would sooner deal with about a million two-year-old human children all at once than to have to corral about a half-dozen Leviathans. Or, even worse, one huge Alpha one.

Crowley sighed. That Tablet had better be worth it. He looked at his watch, then ordered one more.


	5. Monsters, Inc

Chapter 5 - Monsters, Inc.

Cas, Gail and Chuck had winked their friends to the edge of the parking lot outside the castle. It was full dark out now, but Cas thought they should approach the castle cautiously. Dean's comment about night guards had been preying on Cas's mind.

There were no cars left in the parking lot now, except for the unfortunate TR7. It stuck out like a sore thumb. Now Cas was wondering if they should have taken the chance and tried to drive it back to the hotel. But no identification had been used in its rental, of course. So there would be no way to trace the car back to any of them, should the castle's security staff make any inquiries.

They were just about to walk across the parking lot towards the castle when they heard a growl from behind. The edge of the parking lot bordered the forest, and a werewolf came bounding out, going for Frank. It jumped on his chest, nearly knocking him down. Its jaws were snapping as it tried to rip out his throat.

Jody reached behind her and pulled out the gun she had concealed under her jacket. As Frank fought the werewolf, his wife pumped six shots into the creature, in quick succession. It howled in pain. Frank threw it aside and it collapsed to the pavement, dead.

Bobby looked at her, impressed. "Nice shootin', Sheriff."

Jody smiled at him. "When Frank and I want a night of romance, we go to the shooting range."

"My wife, ladies and gentlemen," Frank said proudly.

Sam was looking down at the beast's dead body. "Silver bullets?" he asked Jody. She gave him a withering look, and he grinned. "Sorry. Dumb question."

Then two more werewolves came running out of the forest, but they had lost the element of surprise now. Frank pulled a silver knife out of his jacket pocket and Jody reassumed her shooter stance and a moment later, there were two more carcasses.

"Let's hide the bodies in the woods," Cas said. "We don't want anyone to see them here, calling attention to our presence." He grabbed one of the bodies, Dean grabbed another, and Frank, the third. The men heaved the corpses into the woods. They stood there listening for a minute, but there didn't seem to be any more creatures forthcoming, so they rejoined the group.

"Those things usually hunt in packs, so if there aren't any more showing up by now, we should be fine," Dean announced.

Gail circulated quickly, cleaning the blood off of the mens' hands and clothes. "Why bother?" Dean asked her. "The way things are going, there'll probably be lots more on us before the night is over."

"No, she's right to do it," Cas said quickly. "Until we can ascertain that the castle is deserted, the last thing we'd need would be to show up in front of any security personnel with blood all over our clothes. This is supposed to be a covert operation."

Dean nodded, acknowledging Cas's statement as Gail moved on to Frank. By the time she was done with him, she felt a little light-headed. She shook her head vigorously, annoyed with herself. Since when did a little light cleaning make her feel dizzy? It was Jason's constant feeding that was making her feel so weak, but she had no recollection of any of those incidents at the moment. Nor did she recall having gone straight to the ladies' room at the hotel restaurant and applying the skin cream she had bought at the mall to the wound on her neck.

Cas saw her shaking her head. "Are you all right?" he asked her.

"Yes, I'm fine, Cas," she replied automatically. Then she smiled grimly. "You know how much I dislike big dogs."

"Yeah, she always did have an aversion to those," Frank confirmed, nodding. "But I've gotta say, it's been nice just to have some ordinary, run-of-the-mill monsters to kill, for a change."

Dean smirked. "Yeah, and the first ones we see, you and your wife hog the kills."

"Tell you what, Dean," Bobby piped up. "The next Leviathan we see will be all yours."

Dean gave him a double-take, and then his mouth snapped shut. He was thinking about what that Leviathan had said back at the hotel about the Portal to Purgatory being breached. How many monsters were out there, and what kinds were they? No wonder Cas had told them to bring the whole arsenal. Now he was glad he'd just stuck to coffee at dinner.

They started to walk towards the castle again, and suddenly, Dean felt a pain in his side. He knew he'd eaten a big meal at the hotel, but this was ridiculous. "Ow! I think I pulled a muscle, dragging Fido into the forest," he remarked. He put his hand on his side, and it came away bloody. "What the hell?"

Dean looked sidelong at Chuck, who had been walking beside him. But it wasn't Chuck he saw. "Son of a bitch!" he exclaimed. A Demon stood there, grinning, its knife dripping with Dean's blood. Suddenly, a knife poked through the Demon's stomach from behind, and its vessel crumpled to the asphalt.

"That felt good," Bobby said, smiling. He looked at Dean, then at the knife he'd just used to stab the Demon with. "First time in a while," he added nostalgically.

Then about a dozen Demons and miscellaneous other monsters set upon the group, and the fight was on.

Gail had her Angel blade out, and she was tussling with a female monster of medium height. She stabbed it in the chest, hoping it wasn't a Leviathan. It dropped to the asphalt, and it stayed down. Phew.

Chuck had a Demon knife, and he'd been fighting with two of them at once. He killed one, but then the other one grabbed him by the neck and started to choke him. Bobby seized the Demon and spun it around, punching It in the face. It staggered backwards into Chuck, who stabbed it in the back and then threw its vessel aside.

Jody had a Demon knife too, and she was using it with great enthusiasm. Cas was sticking to his broadsword, which he had brought on purpose, because it was such a versatile weapon. He could chop, stab, and decapitate with it, and he was currently doing all of those things. He had forgotten the feel of a good sword in your hand. He was in his element now, dispatching monsters quickly and effectively. Unlike cliche enemies in the movies, these monsters had no compunctions about attacking in concert, rather than one at a time. However, like most lower-tier residents of Purgatory, these particular monsters were extremely stupid. Two of them came running at him at the same time, and because they were so close together, Cas was able to run both of them through at once, like some kind of disgusting shish kebab. Then he pried them off his sword and wiped their blood off onto their clothes. He liked the sword, and he wanted to keep it as pristine as he could for as long as he could.

Finally, all of the monsters lay dead on the asphalt of the parking lot as the humans and Angels stood over them, panting from the exertions of the fight. Cas looked around at the group, moving automatically towards Gail. "Is everyone all right? Are there any wounds?"

The humans all checked themselves. "I've still got this stab wound in my side," Dean said.

"I've got one in my shoulder," Frank said, pulling his shirt away from the wound.

"My leg could use a little attention," Bobby chipped in. "Now that I'm human again, I don't want my arthritis kicking in. Used to be whenever it rained, my old war wounds would act up."

Cas was looking down at Gail. She had received a cut on her face during the fracas, and the blood was dripping down her neck. He touched her face, healing the cut, and then he put his hand on her neck. It was hard to tell with all the blood if she was cut there too, so he suffused her neck with the blue glow, just to be on the safe side.

As soon as he did that, the wound that had been produced by Jason's incessant feeding was healed, and the spell was broken. Gail's head swam, and she clutched at Cas for support.

"Are you all right?" he asked her reflexively, alarmed. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"No, Cas, I'm OK," she told him, just as reflexively. "I'm just a little worn out from the fight. I guess I'd better get back in the training room when we get home. I'm a little out of shape." She smiled weakly. Now was certainly not the time to bring up Jason's visits. She remembered them, now that his hold on her had been broken, but they were a little bit busy right now to have that conversation. Still, she would have to warn Cas that Jason was here in Romania, and soon.

Chuck was healing Bobby, and Cas moved to Frank now. "Umm...stab wound, in my side," Dean repeated. Now that he had received confirmation that Gail was okay, he was looking at her, expecting her to heal him. He lifted his shirt, gesturing.

Gail could see that the wound wasn't serious, so she decided to have a moment of fun. She looked at him and said, "Hey, Dean?"

"What?" he asked her quizzically.

"'Ass-Laugh'." she replied, flouncing past him.

Dean's jaw dropped open. "Really? You've gotta be kidding me," he moaned.

She turned back to face him. "Of course I'm kidding," she said, smiling. She put her hand on his side and started to heal his wound.

Cas had moved on to Sam now, healing some cuts on Sam's arms. The brothers and the two Angels were standing clustered together, smiling at each other. Then suddenly, the parking lot and the castle disappeared.

Crowley snapped himself back to the castle entrance, watching the other four. He had come up behind the Angels and the Winchesters when they'd been occupied with each other and given them the push, after immobilizing the others. Now the group had been split into two groups of four.

The King of Hell snapped his fingers from afar, reanimating Bobby, Chuck, Frank and Jody.

"What in the ever-lovin' hell was that?" Bobby exclaimed. "Where are Sam and Dean? Where are Cas and Gail?"

They were all looking wildly around, but their friends were nowhere to be found. Crowley couldn't help but be amused at their befuddlement. He had thought about it and decided that the best way to avoid a confrontation with Castiel was to remove him from the location altogether. So of course, Gail had to go, too. And the Winchesters' proximity to the Angels had just been a happy coincidence. Better to remove them, too, while he was at it. That left the weaker quartet, and Crowley didn't think they'd pose as much of a challenge.

With any luck, these four would lead him to the Tablet, and then he would just take it from them. Three humans and Chuck? Should be a piece of cake. He was relying on their determination to get the Tablet and get out of Romania before any more Leviathans showed up. That was why Crowley hadn't jammed up Chuck's frequency.

Sure enough, a moment later, Chuck held up his hand. "Hold on, I'm getting something," he said.

"What the hell?" Dean was fuming. "Where are we?" He was staking around the room. It appeared that they were in the basement of a building. The walls were made of stone, and there were no windows, only a door, which was locked and bolted.

Sam looked at the wall. "I don't know, but it looks like they knew there would be Angels coming." He pointed at the sigil.

Gail looked at Cas. "Well, obviously, whoever put that there doesn't know they don't work on you anymore."

But Cas was frowning. That was a bit of a sweeping statement. Just because he'd overcome the one in Heaven's library out of sheer panic didn't mean that he felt able to say that they were ineffective on him now, as a whole.

"Let me see if I can," Cas said doubtfully. He screwed up his face and concentrated, but he was unable to pop out of the room. He walked up to the wall and examined the symbol more closely. "This is a much more complex sigil than I'm used to seeing," he remarked. Then his frown deepened. Crowley.

Cas sent a message to Chuck on Angel Radio. The four of them were fine, but they were in an unknown location, and they were currently trapped.

Chuck relayed the information to the others. "What should we do, Cas?" he asked.

Cas glanced at Sam and Dean. "Where's your bag?" he asked them.

"I handed it to Frank to hold while you were healing my arms," Sam said.

Cas nodded. This could be a good thing, in a way. He asked Chuck to ask the others if they felt able to try to break into the castle and start the search, while Cas and his group tried to figure out how to escape wherever they were.

Jody grinned. "I was a cop for many years, remember. I can break into almost anywhere."

"So can I, but I'm not sure if I should be telling you that," Frank said to her, smirking.

It was agreed that their group would try to proceed. "But if you feel you are in any danger, please have Chuck wink you to safety," Cas emphasized.

Bobby rolled his eyes. He appreciated Cas caring about their safety and all that, but this was hardly his first rodeo. "Yeah, yeah," he said impatiently. "Just tell them to get their asses back here. With any luck, we'll have found the damn thing by the time that happens."

Crowley heard that, and he was pleased. That was exactly what he'd been hoping they would do. He only hoped that God Squad Lite would be able to find the bloody thing before Castiel figured out how to escape the pub's cellar. When his Brother eventually did get out, he wasn't exactly going to be in a jovial frame of mind. As soon as Castiel got a really good look at that sigil, he was going to recognize his Brother's handiwork, and the jig, as they say, would be up.

Crowley snapped himself inside the castle to await the arrival of the B-Team.

Cas was unable to wink out of the basement room, nor could he blast the door open, although he tried mightily to do so. Crowley had added a little extra when he had sealed the door from the outside, just to slow them down. Eventually, Castiel's rage would be so towering that he would be able to obliterate the door. But, for the time being, the four of them were searching every nook and cranny of the basement room, looking for a way out.

Meanwhile, their friends had been able to access the castle, and they were currently searching its rooms. The trouble was, they had no idea what it was that they were supposed to be looking for. If the Tablet was that ancient, would it not have been discovered ages ago?

Chuck and Cas were carrying on a running conversation. Chuck was reporting what they were seeing, and Cas was giving him suggestions on what to look for. But Dean was getting extremely frustrated now.

"Cas!" he yelled. "Get your head out of your ass and come over here and help us!"

"Just a minute, Chuck," Cas said, and he looked over to the door, where the three of them were standing. "Yes, Dean?" Cas asked patiently.

"Get over here," Dean repeated, gesturing emphatically.

Gail had been using her blade to try to open the door. She had tried to concentrate the golden beam on the lock, but when that didn't work, she had started using it to try to trace the outline of the door, on the off chance that whatever had been used to seal it might become weakened by what she was doing.

Cas saw what she was trying to do, and he smiled. He didn't know if it would work, but it had been an excellent idea.

"She's been at this for a while, but I think she's running out of juice," Dean told Cas. And it was true; the beam was getting more faint now, and Gail's hand was starting to shake from the effort.

"'She's' still got enough juice to kick your ass," Gail retorted irritably, but the beam was starting to sputter now, and then it went out. She felt herself starting to falter, as well. Jason's spell on her had been broken, but she was still feeling weakened by the loss of blood. She lowered her blade and staggered back, and Cas caught her before she fell.

"Sorry, sweetie," she said weakly.

Cas was concerned. This wasn't the first time she'd appeared this weak after using her powers on this trip, and he was growing very suspicious now.

"See if you can blast the door open now," Dean said, but Cas waved his hand at his friend impatiently. He lowered Gail to the floor and propped her up against the wall.

Dean felt bad now. What was wrong with her? He and Sam went over to where she sat, looking down at her face.

"I'm sorry, Gail," Dean said. Now he and Sam were worried, too. All of a sudden, she was looking very pale.

"I have something to tell you guys," she said. "I was going to wait till we got the Tablet, but I guess I'd better tell you now."

"Are you pregnant?" Sam quipped, just to lighten the mood a little.

Gail's lips twitched, but predictably enough, Cas was not amused. He knelt down in front of her and took both of her hands in his. "What is it, Gail?" he asked her softly.

She sighed. He was going to freak out. She told him hesitantly about Jason, and the fact that his hold on her had been broken when Cas had touched her neck, back at the castle.

As could be expected, Cas was furious. His eyes flashed bright blue. How dare he? The next time Castiel saw his old friend Jason, he was going to tear him limb from limb.

"Try blasting the door down now," Sam said to Cas. The Angel glared at his friend momentarily. Then he realized that Sam was right. If Gail had been successful in weakening the seal around the door, the extra adrenaline his rage was currently producing might just be enough to do it.

Cas stood and faced the door, thrusting both of his arms out towards it. The door blew off its hinges.

"We'll have to remember that for next time," Dean quipped from behind him. "Just make Cas mad enough to hulk out." He reached down and helped Gail to her feet. "Are you OK?" he asked her solicitously.

"Better, now," she told him. She walked over to Cas and put her hand on his arm. "I'm sorry, sweetie."

"You have nothing to be sorry about," he said in a clipped tone. "But the next time I see Jason, my sword will be separating his head from his body." He looked back at Sam and Dean. "That will be enough to do it, right?"

"Yeah, Cas," Sam confirmed. "If he's just a vampire, that'll be enough to kill him."

Cas smiled grimly. "Too bad he's not a Leviathan. I would take great pleasure in beheading him multiple times."

"Let's get out of here," Dean said, and the four of them exited the room. They walked down a corridor and up a set of wooden stairs.

Dean was leading the way, and as soon as he saw the room they were in, he stopped short. "Yahtzee," he said.

Sam bumped into his brother when he had stopped, and he pushed Dean to the side. Gail followed, then Cas. They all looked around, surprised. They were in an empty pub. How weird was that?

Or, they had thought the place was empty. The lighting in the room was dim, but as their eyes adjusted, they could make out the figure of a man sitting at one of the tables. He had a beer stein in his hand, and when they had burst into the room, he banged it down on the table.

"Well, well," Kurt said. "If it isn't my old friends."

About half an hour before that, Kurt had been walking along the Promenade towards the castle. It looked like all of the monsters from Purgatory were gathering there, intent on killing as many of the group as they could. Many of them had been killed by someone in that group, and they were hell-bent on revenge. Because the denizens of Purgatory didn't generally play well with others, their groups were fragmented. Kurt didn't feel like he belonged with any of them, and truthfully, he was a little afraid of most of them, especially the ones that hunted in packs.

So when he'd seen the pub, he had decided to go in, for a bit of liquid courage. Kurt had always liked his drink in life; that was one of the reasons he had hung around with Etienne so much. And now, Kurt was thinking he might not even bother to show up at the castle. He hated the idea that Sam and Dean had been traitors to the Cause, because he had really liked those guys. And the thought of Cas, that crazy bastard, having been the one who had killed all of Kurt's friends made his blood boil. But Kurt didn't want to mix it up with all of the monsters who were congregating at the castle, either.

The lights had all been out in the establishment, and the door had been locked. Once the castle and the surrounding souvenir stands closed, there wasn't much business in the area, so the proprietor didn't stay open for very long after dark. But Kurt didn't let that deter him. He jimmied the lock and let himself in, helping himself to a beer once he got inside.

He had been sitting there thinking about what his next move should be when the four of them stumbled upstairs.

"Kurt?" Dean said disbelievingly.

Kurt stood from the table and took the gun out of his pocket, pointing it at him. "Traitor," he said coolly.

Cas stepped in front of Dean, automatically. And Gail stepped in front of Sam, but of course half of him was still exposed, since she was so much shorter than he was. Kurt saw this and smiled, pointing his gun at Sam.

"I don't mind starting with you, Sam," Kurt sneered.

"I wouldn't, if I were you," Cas cautioned Kurt. The white supremacist's gun was aimed at Sam's head now. If he squeezed off a shot, Sam could be killed instantly. Right now, Cas was just trying to buy a little time and distract Kurt. "You know what I am, don't you?" Cas asked him. "So you know that I can tear you apart."

"Listen to you," Kurt said sarcastically. He glanced at Cas, but his gun remained pointed at Sam's head. "Mark told me you were an Angel, but you just sound like the crazy psycho bastard who blew up my clubhouse and killed all of my brothers."

Sam and Dean looked at Cas, startled. So that was what Cas had done in Paris. He had never talked about it. Wow. They didn't exactly disapprove, but it was no wonder that he got so messed up, sometimes. Look at the kinds of things he'd been forced to do recently. First Egypt, now Paris. They didn't envy their friends the kinds of hard decisions he'd had to make.

"The only regret I have is that you and Benoit were not in the building at the time," Cas said coldly.

"Well, don't worry about it," Kurt said. "Some old coon came to my apartment and killed me, anyway."

"So you ended up in Purgatory?" Sam said, puzzled. "Funny, I would have thought that such a disgusting racist pig would have gone straight to Hell."

Kurt smirked at him. "Well, I hope you've been naughty boys. I'd love it if you and Dean ended up in Purgatory. Then I'd have the pleasure of killing you over and over again."

While Kurt was distracting himself with the Winchesters, Gail had been fumbling for her Angel blade, as discreetly as she could. She took it out of her pants pocket and reached her hand out slowly towards Cas. She was trying to pass it to him, hoping he might be able to throw it at Kurt. Anything to get that gun barrel away from Sam's head.

But Kurt saw the movement out of the corner of his eye. "What are you doing?" he asked Gail sharply.

"I just wanted to hold my husband's hand," she said, rather lamely.

"Well, isn't that sweet," Kurt said sarcastically. "How about if you just wait a minute? Then you can hold everybody's hand, when I kill them all." He fired the gun, but at the last second, his arm was joggled and the bullet missed Sam, lodging in the wall behind him.

"What the hell?!" Kurt exclaimed angrily.

"Remember me, you racist asshat?" Paul asked him. He punched Kurt in the face, wrenching the gun out of his hand.

"Hey, that's my word, not yours," Dean quipped, grinning.

Paul couldn't help but smile at that one. "I forgot what a funny guy you can be," he told Dean.

"See, Sammy? I told you I was funny," Dean said to his brother.

"Consider the source," Sam said, smirking.

"Hey, I just saved your ass," Paul snapped at him. "Don't make me regret it."

Cas moved forward, looking down at Kurt, who looked frightened now. Paul grinned. "I should just let Cas take care of you," he said to Kurt. "You know, he cut your buddy Etienne down in the catacombs and left him there to be a meal for the rats, don't you? Oh, and he left him in total darkness, too. Nice touch. I imagine Cas could take you there too, if you want. Say hi to your friend for us. His soul will be in Hell, but his bones should be there."

A chill went through Sam, hearing that. He knew that Cas had a hard edge to him at times, but Sam was a little bit shocked to hear that, nonetheless. Of course, Etienne had arguably been the worst one of them all. Still, what a horrible way that would be to die.

Cas gave Paul a baleful look. Thanks, Paul. He really hadn't wanted Sam and Dean to know about those details. He still had some mixed feelings about that whole thing. As an Angel, he supposed that he should feel guilt. The only issue was that he was feeling guilty about not feeling the slightest bit guilty about what he had done.

Cas scrutinized Paul's face now. "I presume you came from the Portal, too?"

"Yep." Paul pocketed the gun he'd taken from Kurt. Cas frowned, but he said nothing. If Paul had intended to kill Sam and Dean, he would have done so already. And neither Paul nor Kurt would be any match for Cas, if it came down to a fight.

"Lucifer, Mark, and Jason. The Unholy Trinity," Paul continued. "They let a couple dozen of us out, and then they sealed the thing back up. Guess Lucifer didn't wanna do a huge cleanup afterwards."

Cas was doing the math in his head, trying to determine how many there might be left. "Well, we're going to have one less, in a moment." He took out his sword, offering it to Paul. "Would you like to do the honours? You kind of owe him one, in a way."

Paul smiled. He actually appreciated the gesture, but he wasn't prepared to admit it. "By that logic, I kind of owe YOU one, too," he retorted. "Maybe two."

Cas sighed. "What would you have me do, Paul?"

"We'll be talking about that, Castiel," Paul said. "But for now, you go ahead."

Cas swung the sword like a baseball player wielding a bat and lopped Kurt's head off with one clean blow.

"Nice," Paul said, nodding. "Sweet swing. Worthy of Barry Bonds."

"I'm trying out for the Angels next week," Cas said absently, picking Kurt's severed head up by the hair. He was waiting to see if it was going to move. He hadn't forgotten that Leviathans were sometimes shape-shifters.

Paul stared at Cas incredulously. Had Castiel just made a baseball joke? Who was this guy, now? He was surely a lot different than the guy who'd had a huge stick up his butt about, well, everything, back in the day.

"Ladies and gentlemen, my husband," Gail said proudly, appreciating Cas's quip.

Paul looked at her. "How're you doing, Boo? Did you miss me?"

Gail gave him a double-take. Paul was a hard guy for her to figure out. He'd started out as a Demon, in league with Crowley and then with Lucifer. But then, he had helped them out in Paris, turning into an ally of sorts. But she still didn't know exactly where he was coming from, and so she didn't know exactly how to respond to that. "Thanks for taking care of that cracker for us," she settled on. Paul stared at her for a moment, and then he threw his head back and laughed. "Not bad," he acknowledged, giving her a nod.

Gail had been about to say something else when her head began to swim again. She staggered backwards, but luckily, Sam was still behind her, and he caught her. He lowered her into a chair at one of the other tables and knelt beside her. "Are you gonna be OK?" Sam asked her softly.

Cas tossed the head he'd been holding to the floor and rushed over to her, kneeling at her side opposite Sam.

"What's wrong with her?" Paul asked them.

Cas's lips pursed so tightly that they disappeared. "Jason," he said shortly.

"Damn vampire bastard," Paul swore. He'd hated Jason when they'd both worked for Lucifer. Paul approached the chair where Gail was seated. She was shaking her head, trying to clear it. "Has he been feeding on you, little lady?" he asked her, deliberately using Henri's nickname for her, thinking it might cheer her.

He'd been hoping to produce a smile, but Gail's lip trembled, and Cas shot Paul a look. "What?" Paul exclaimed.

Cas was holding Gail's hand, rubbing her arm as he sometimes did when he was trying to revive her. It didn't really do much of anything for her, but it seemed to make him feel a little better, so she let him keep on doing it. "Henri is dying," Cas said bluntly.

"Damn. I'm sorry to hear that," Paul said sincerely. "I like that old guy." Then he brightened. "But what's everybody so glum about? You'll just be seeing him in Heaven again, won't you? There's no way he's going anywhere else."

But Cas was frowning again. "His disposition is unclear," he said tersely. "He committed murder." He nodded towards Kurt's body.

Paul smiled slowly. Attaboy, Henri. "Well, in that case, he should get a medal," he remarked.

"Be that as it may, his fate remains to be seen," Cas retorted.

"Cas, would you please stop that?" Gail said irritably. He'd been rubbing her a bit more vigorously than usual, probably as a byproduct of his anger towards Jason, and his anguish over Henri. "Unless you're trying to start a fire, I need you to let up." But then she touched his face to let him know that she appreciated his concern for her.

Sam snd Dean exchanged glances. They'd never thought about it like that. Who decided these things, anyway? God? But what about if there was no God? Than what?

Cas saw them looking at each other. "It's complicated," he said. He had stopped rubbing Gail's arm as soon as she'd requested that he do so, but he was still scrutinizing her face, and the worry line was etched into his forehead. She leaned forward and kissed him there.

"Actually, maybe that did help. I'm feeling better now," Gail told him. Which was partially true. But he had enough on his plate right now without being consumed with worry about her. She would just have to soldier on and try to stand near one of these guys so he could catch her before she fell to the ground, if necessary.

"Yeah, it's complicated, all right," Paul groused. "In case you've forgotten, you owe me, Castiel. Purgatory is a stupid-ass place. So, am I gonna get another shot at Heaven, or what?"

Cas stood, helping Gail to her feet. "That's not up to me, Paul. You know that," he replied. "But, for what it's worth, I believe you're on the right path, now."

Paul's brow furrowed. "How do you figure?"

"Believe it or not, Purgatory is actually a step up from Hell," Castiel told him.

"Yeah, if you don't mind getting attacked every minute of every day," Paul said, scowling. "Still, I guess you're right about that. Maybe, if I help you guys out again, I'll be able to get out of there. What do you think, Castiel?"

Cas looked at him, startled. He hadn't thought of that before. Theoretically, he supposed that was possible. Paul had been in Hell, but he had started down the right path when he had helped them in Paris, twice. Could that be the reason he had gone to Purgatory this time, instead of back to Hell? "I don't know, Paul," he answered honestly.

"Put it this way; you've got nothing to lose, at this point," Dean piped up.

Paul mulled this over. He supposed that Dean was right about that. "Tell you what," he said to the group. "I'll help you now, as best I can. Then, if Castiel will let me stay here on Earth, I'll go see Henri. Spend a bit of time with Pops. He's got no kids, so he'll be all alone. Maybe we'll play some cards or something, or just talk. Then I'll be around, if you need me." He smiled thinly. "I've still got your cell number memorized, Castiel. I'll get myself one of those phones, too, and you can call me if you need my help."

Cas looked at him speculatively. "And why would you want to do all of that?"

"Because if I want redemption, I've got to earn it," Paul said sincerely. "Henri helped me to see that. And I guess you guys did, too."

Cas continued to stare at him for a moment. Paul really did seem like he meant what he was saying. And he had just saved Sam's life, hadn't he?

"And I'll tell you something that'll sweeten the deal," Paul added, and then he grinned. "Jason still thinks I'm on his side. So what do you say, Castiel?"

Cas smiled grimly. "OK, Paul, you're on," he said. "But if you're trying to trick us in any way..."

"I know. You'll kill me," Paul said, nodding. The two of them had had this exchange before, back in Paris. It was starting to become their "thing", Paul thought. But he was still smiling. "Now, let's go kick some monster ass."

"Uh, Bobby," Chuck said, backing away from the doorway.

Bobby's back was to him. He was leaning down to look at a panel on the wall. It had caught his eye because there were marks etched on it which appeared to be Enochian.

"Bobby..." Chuck said again, and Bobby waved his hand impatiently. He was trying to concentrate. His knowledge of the language was extremely limited, but he thought he could make out one of the symbols. Damn. He wished that Cas or Sam were here. "Can't it wait, Chuck?" Bobby said irritably.

"No, I don't think it can, Bobby," Crowley said sardonically.

Bobby straightened up, rolling his eyes. Great. That was all they needed. "What do YOU want?" he said, turning around.

"Same thing as you do, Bobby," the King of Hell said, strolling into the room. "And why is it taking you so bloody long?"

"How about you tell me why you jumped ship all of a sudden?" Bobby asked him angrily.

"Jumped ship?" Crowley echoed. "That would imply that I was on your ship to begin with. I'm the Captain of the HMS Crowley, Bobby, you know that. Now, how's that Tablet coming? Let's go. Chop chop."

Chuck was still intimidated by Crowley, and he supposed he always would be. But he blurted out, "You did something to the four of them, didn't you?"

"Well, look who just moved to the head of the class," Crowley said sarcastically.

"Where are they? What did you do?" Bobby asked him sharply.

"Don't worry, I didn't harm a hair on their little heads," Crowley responded. "I just wasn't in the mood for a confrontation with my Brother today. Now, let's go. I'll be having the Tablet, and then I'll be on my way."

"We haven't found it yet, and we're not giving it to you when we do," Bobby said, scowling.

"Really? And do you think you can stop me from taking it?" Crowley said, his eyebrows raised. "Three humans and Chuck? Sounds like a film. Good luck with that, Bobby." Crowley looked at Chuck, sneering. "All due respect," he said, heavy on the sarcasm.

Bobby frowned. Crowley was right. There was no way that the four of them could defeat the King of Hell in a fight, as hard as they might try. But that didn't mean he was going to just lead Crowley to the Tablet, either. If he could stall for time, he was sure that Cas would show up. He edged over to stand in front of the panel he'd been looking at, blocking it from Crowley's view. "Well, I hate to tell ya this, but we have no idea where the damn thing is. And with only four of us to search now, it's gonna take a lot longer to find it. That's if it's even here."

Oh, it was here, all right. Crowley knew it was. But, where? It was a big castle.

"I wouldn't worry about it, if I were you," said a voice from behind Crowley.

Two Leviathans walked into the room, wearing male vessels.

"Tablet, Schmablet," one of them said. "It's dinnertime."

"An Angel, a human, and a Demon walk into a castle," the other one said. "There's a joke in there, somewhere."

"The joke's on them, 'cause they won't be walking back out," the first Leviathan said.

Frank and Jody were creeping up behind the two monsters. Frank had a sword at the ready, and Jody had an axe. They were poised and ready to behead the Leviathans when a third Leviathan walked into the room. It was the female Leviathan they had encountered back at the hotel. It had taken a while, but her head and body had finally had their reunion.

She extended her arms and knocked Frank and Jody into opposite walls. Their weapons flew out of their hands. The Leviathan picked up Frank's sword.

"You're wasting your time," she said to them. "Beheading only slows us down. Mind you, Castiel's idea wasn't a bad one. Now I can accomplish my goals with a cool head." She laughed at her own joke. Then she looked around. "Where is he, by the way? I'm really looking forward to eating him. All the girls say he's positively yummy."

Frank was looking up at her incredulously. What the hell were they supposed to do about these things? They were relentless, they seemed impossible to kill, and worst of all, they were almost funnier than him.

"Crowley," the Leviathan said. She smiled, revealing a mouthful of big, sharp teeth. "What a rare treat," she remarked. "You're going to be my rich, calorie-laden dessert, like cheesecake after a really satisfying meal." She looked Chuck up and down. "And, you? You can be the toothpick, afterwards."

Frank got up from the floor. "That does it. I tell the jokes around here." He reached out his hand, gesturing to Jody. She tossed him the axe, and he advanced on the Leviathan.

"You don't give up, I'll give you that," she said. She sent Frank flying into the wall again. Then she turned to her fellow Leviathans. "And neither do I," she said. She chopped off the head of the nearest one with Frank's sword.

Frank was in pain now, and now he was mad, as well. "Hey, stupid!" he called to her. "Didn't you just tell me that that was a waste of time?"

She smiled again. Oh, she was going to enjoy eating that one very much. But first, she had to neutralize the only real threats in this room. "Yes, I did," she replied. "For YOU. Not for me. Because, all I have to do is this." She grabbed the decapitated head by its hair and ate it. Let it try to reattach now. Then she kicked its body aside and went for the other Leviathan.

He was backing away, palms raised in supplication. She was stronger than him, and he knew it. "Now, now, let's talk about this," he wheedled. "I can help you. I don't eat all that much. I was thinking about going on a diet, anyway."

"Good," she said. "I'll help you with that. You can start by losing about 20 ugly pounds." She swung the sword and lopped off his head, catching it neatly in mid-air. She ate it, too, and then looked down at the body.

"Nahhh," she said aloud. "I feel like choosing from a different food group now." She looked around the room. "Let's see. Decisions, decisions." She smiled at Crowley. "I've always been partial to Devil's food."

Incredibly, Crowley was backing away. He had tangled with an Alpha Leviathan only once before, and he was not looking to repeat the experience. Maybe he should just pop out of here. But he really wanted that Tablet. "You wouldn't like me," he said warily. "I'd taste way too bitter." He grabbed Bobby and used him as a shield. "Here, try this one. He's probably very tender. He's been marinating in bourbon for years."

"Coward!" Jody exclaimed. She had been sneaking up behind the Leviathan, but her rage at Crowley's action prompted her to throw the stiletto she'd stashed in her pants pocket at Crowley. She'd never thrown a knife like that before, but miraculously, it stuck in Crowley's arm and he let go of Bobby, clutching the wound.

"THAT'S for sticking me with the bill, on our date!" Jody exclaimed, and Frank grinned. He wished he could high-five her right now. She had told him about that incident, of course, in the interests of full disclosure. Bobby obviously knew about it too, because his beard twitched furiously. Chuck just looked confused.

That had been pretty funny, Bobby thought. He was extremely proud of Jody. She had always been equal to any of the men, but she had positively flourished ever since she had become a full-time member of their team. She was still the same tough cookie she'd always been, but now that she was a wife and mother again, he could see that she was a lot happier. Well, outside of being currently threated by monsters, Lucifer, and the King of Hell, of course.

But they had to do something here, and they had to do it fast. They could no longer wait for Cas to get here, because they could all be dead before that happened. Besides, if Crowley was this afraid of the thing, maybe Cas wouldn't be able to handle the Alpha Leviathan, either. In any event, Bobby had to step up to the plate now, or they were all toast.

What had Cas said? Something about the bone of a righteous mortal man, soaked in the blood of the Fallen. Why the hell did these guys always have to talk in riddles?

Bobby looked at Crowley, and suddenly, he had an idea. He took the knife out of his pocket and gritted his teeth, trying to screw up the nerve. But there was no time to lose. The Leviathan was going for Jody now.

Bobby kicked off his shoe and stripped off his sock, and then he brought the knife down hard and cut off his own little toe. He yelled in pain, but there was no time to think about how much that had hurt right now. He bent to the floor and picked it up, then rushed towards Crowley. Before the King of Hell had a chance to react, Bobby had soaked his toe in the blood that was coming out of the knife wound in Crowley's arm.

"See how this tastes, after it's been marinated in douchebag sauce!" Bobby yelled, limping towards the Leviathan. He shoved the toe down her throat and grabbed her vessel's face, holding its mouth shut. A minute later, the Leviathan exploded, splattering them all in blood.

They all stood there in silence for a moment. Then Frank said, "Wow, Bobby, that was actually pretty funny. Gross and disgusting, but funny."

Bobby was panting from adrenaline, but an instant later, he sank to the floor in pain. Chuck rushed to him and put his hand on Bobby's foot, healing the open wound and stopping the bleeding. But of course, he couldn't replace Bobby's toe.

But at least the blood flow had stopped. The pain was still there, but Bobby would just have to bear it for now. He probably wouldn't miss his little toe all that much. It wasn't like it was an important toe, or anything. He just hoped to God there weren't any more Leviathans coming, or Frank was gonna be the next one to lose an appendage.

"Thanks, Chuck," Bobby said, grimacing.

"Congratulations, Bobby," Crowley said to him. "Too bad about your little piggy, but at least he can still go to market, and eat roast beef."

Bobby glared at him. Easy for him to say. What an ass.

Crowley was still clutching his arm, which was still bleeding. King or not, he could not heal himself, any more than Castiel or any of the other Angels could. It was so rare that anyone was able to even touch him that it had been ages since he'd had to worry about being healed. And while this injury was hardly life-threatening, it did sting, and the blood was ruining his designer jacket.

The King looked hopefully at Chuck, and the Angel stared back at him. "You're kidding, right?" Chuck said derisively. Now Crowley started to get angry. It was a fine kettle of fish when even a spineless worm like Chuck wasn't afraid of him anymore.

"Heal me now, or you'll regret it later," Crowley snarled.

Chuck looked uncertainly at Bobby. Bobby shrugged. "Up to you," he told Chuck. Then Bobby glared at Crowley. "If it was me, I wouldn't do it."

"You seem to forget you're a human now, Bobby," Crowley said irritably. "I could knock you into next month."

"I wouldn't recommend doing that, not unless you want to be bleeding from many other places," Castiel said from the doorway.

They had popped over to the castle from the pub, and as they stood outside, Sam and Dean looked around warily. They didn't see any monsters at the moment, but they were on high alert.

Gail was looking up at the castle. This was every cliche Dracula movie ever, coming to life. The building was illuminated by the light of a huge full moon that hung in the sky like it was painted there. A few tendrils of mist were even floating in from the forest, as if specifically ordered by the director of a movie, to make the atmosphere even more eerie.

"I want you to hang back when we enter the castle, please," Cas said to Paul. "Depending on who or what we find there, we may want the element of surprise."

Paul nodded, smiling grimly. "OK, I'll hide in the shadows. I should blend right in."

The quartet entered the castle stealthily, with Paul training silently behind. Whichever of their friends had broken in had also disabled the alarm system, and then left the door ajar. Sam and Dean traded glances. They were impressed.

Then they had come upon the room where their friends were, and Cas had reacted to hearing Crowley's threat.

Dean was gaping at everyone. "What the hell happened here?" he asked. There was blood everywhere. Even Crowley was bleeding.

"Leviathan," Bobby said shortly, grimacing from the pain he was in.

Sam stared at their friend. "Your foot," he said, dazed. "What happened to your foot?"

"Long story," Bobby growled.

"It was a compelling tale, with an explosive ending," Frank said, grinning.

"Are you OK?" Gail asked him. She had moved to him and automatically started cleaning the blood off of her brother and checking him for wounds.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Frank replied. He rubbed the back of his head gingerly. "I might have a concussion tomorrow, but I'll worry about that tomorrow. The only one that's actually sustained any kind of wound is the King of Smell over there." Frank was still grinning over Bobby's "douchebag sauce" line. Later, when Bobby was in a better mood and pumped full of painkillers, they'd have to have a laugh about that.

Castiel and Gail had their blades out, trained on Crowley. "Why should we heal you?" Cas barked at Crowley. "You're a traitor!"

"Why does everybody keep saying that?" Crowley lamented, rolling his eyes. "You can only be a traitor if you switch teams, or sides. I've only ever been out for myself. I've never made any bones about that." He couldn't resist; he looked at Bobby, smirking. "Sorry, mate. Too soon?"

Bobby was glaring daggers at him now, wishing that he was still God, just so he could smite that smirk right off the little limey bastard's face.

Cas rushed over to Crowley. "How much of this is your doing?" he asked his Brother sharply.

"Actually, none of it," Crowley replied, almost cheerfully. He nodded towards Jody. "She stabbed me."

"I threw the stiletto you gave me," Jody said to Cas, smiling. "Stuck it right in there, too."

Cas answered her smile. "I have never been as proud to call you my sister-in-law as I am right now."

"Very amusing," Crowley said irritably. He was still bleeding, and he didn't enjoy being the butt of other peoples' jokes. Crowley truly felt that it was better to give than to receive in that regard. "Are you going to heal me or not, Castiel?"

"I'm thinking...not," Cas said. "I think I'll just kill you, instead."

Crowley was thinking furiously now. He had his powers, of course, but he was still bleeding, he was vastly outnumbered, and Castiel had that murderous look in his eyes. Plus, Crowley still thought that he could come out of this situation the victor, if he played his cards right.

"If you kill me, Castiel, I won't be able to translate the Enochian phrase that's on the wall panel over there," Crowley said, indicating the spot where Bobby had been standing.

Cas eyed him suspiciously. Was this just a way to distract him?

"Send the Moose over there, if you don't believe me," Crowley said. "Bobby was looking at it when I got here. I just didn't get the opportunity to have a good look before the Leviathan arrived."

Cas looked to Bobby for confirmation. "He's right," Bobby said reluctantly. He was grimacing, trying to pull his sock back on over his foot.

Sam walked over to the spot that Crowley had indicated. He bent down to look at the panel. "It's Enochian, all right," he said, nodding. "But before you ask, Cas, I can't translate it. It's way too complex for me."

Cas cursed under his breath. He beckoned to Dean, who came over and stood by Crowley, taking his Demon knife out of his jacket. Cas moved over to where Sam was standing, and he bent to look at the markings. He spent a moment or two longer looking at them than Sam had, but eventually he straightened up, pursing his lips in frustration.

"Fine," Cas said to Crowley. "Translate this for us, and I will let you live. For now."

Crowley sauntered over to his Brother, extending his arm. "I can't think when I'm bleeding," he said to Cas. Cas rolled his eyes and slapped his hand on Crowley's arm, relishing the look of pain on the King of Hell's face. Cas healed the knife wound.

"Hold it," Frank said. "If he can read that, what's to stop him from taking the Tablet himself, and popping out of here?"

Damn it, Crowley thought. Not for the first time, he realized he should have just left Frank's body in the back yard of the bunker years ago. If he had, Frank would be worm food right now, not standing here and opening his big mouth.

Cas and Sam moved in front of the panel to block it from Crowley's sight. "That's an excellent point," Cas said.

Crowley was livid now, but he acted as if he was resigned. "Then chain me up and cuff me," he told them. "I'm sure at least one of you is carrying pentagram handcuffs. You're into kinky stuff, aren't you, Chuck? And I can conjure up the chains myself."

"Here." Dean tossed Cas a pair of Devil's cuffs. Crowley waved his hand and two sets of chains appeared, one in Cas's hand, and one in Sam's. They chained Crowley up and cuffed his hands behind his back, leaving him only enough slack to be able to walk.

Crowley bent to look at the markings. As soon as he neared the panel, it started to glow. Gail remembered the Rom woman advising her and Cas that "it takes evil to find evil". Well, that was obviously true, in this case.

The glow crept up the wall, and an entire section of the wall opened up. It swung around to reveal a niche that held the Tablet.

"Easy peasy," Crowley said, smiling.

Cas reached for the Tablet, but as soon as he touched it, he was knocked backwards. His back bumped a table, hard, and he just barely managed to keep his feet.

Crowley was grinning now. "Well, it is the Hell Tablet, after all," he remarked. "Why don't YOU try it, Frank? You're not nearly as holy as your brother-in-law. Or at least, you didn't used to be a few years ago, when you were with me."

Frank glared at him momentarily, but he moved forward to try, and the same thing happened to him as had happened to Cas.

Crowley was positively beaming now. "Well, well, isn't that a shame," he said sarcastically. "None of you is evil enough, I guess. Not even you, Chuck. Too bad Dean isn't still a Demon." He stared at the Tablet, and an instant later, the chains and handcuffs that were binding him disintegrated. The Tablet began to glow. "Oh, look, it knows its Mummy," Crowley said softly. He glanced at Gail. "I know YOU'LL get that reference."

Cas's heart dropped into his stomach. He couldn't let Crowley touch that Tablet, or all would be lost. He thrust his arms out and aimed the blue rays at Crowley's back.

The King of Hell was knocked off his feet, but he sprang immediately up off the floor and wheeled on his Brother. "Really, Castiel? Attacking a man while his back is turned?" he raged. "Not exactly sporting, is that?" He thrust out his arms and sent his own red beams out, knocking Cas off his feet.

Then Crowley shot the beams at Gail, knocking the blade out of her hand. Then he sent another salvo at her, and she crumpled to the floor. Cas sent his blue rays out again, but Crowley had been anticipating that, so he moved his arm, deflecting them. Then he rushed over to the niche, removed the Tablet, and held it out in front of him like a shield.

"Try it again, Castiel," he sneered. "If you destroy the Tablet, your chances of defeating Lucifer will be gone forever."

Cas's eyes flashed, but he knew that Crowley was right. He couldn't take that chance. But how were they supposed to get the Tablet back, once the King popped it out of here and down to Hell?

"Cheer up, Castiel," Crowley gloated. "With any luck, I'll be seeing one of your group soon. Maybe you can try a Tablet heist in Hell."

"Or maybe we'll just send you back to Hell without it, you cracker-ass cracker!" Paul yelled. He stepped forward out of the shadows and flung the throwing axe Cas had given him towards Crowley with all his might. It was heading straight for Crowley's neck on a beeline. Panicked, Crowley threw his hands up to protect himself, dropping the Tablet.

Sam dove for it, but he was too late. But then, a strange thing happened: it suddenly halted about a half-inch above the floor, and then it floated the rest of the way down, landing unbroken on the floor.

Crowley had caught the axe in midair, and he was in the process of changing his grip on it. He was just winding up to behead Frank when Gail shrieked in anger and charged him. Once again, he was surprised, and he tightened his grip on the weapon. But instead of going for the axe, she placed her hand on his forehead, intending to give him a mighty push, away from the castle.

Crowley smiled grimly. Not a bad idea. So, she wanted to play that game, did she? Fine. He'd play. So he dropped the axe and put his hand on her forehead at the same time, and they winked each other out of the castle.

VIGNETTE - SCARS

They stood outside, in the dark. A light snow had begun to fall now. Gail looked around quickly, but she could see no landmarks to tell her where they were.

"What the hell?!" she exclaimed. "What did you do?"

"I thought you liked cool, fresh air, sweetheart," Crowley retorted.

"Where are we?" she demanded.

"Does it matter?" he countered.

She let out an exasperated breath, and a plume of steam came out of her mouth. It was chilly out here, all right. Now she was glad she'd bought the winter jacket. She pulled it closer around her.

"So, he told you, did he?" Crowley said to her.

What? She looked at him, confused.

"Metatron," he said, a trifle impatiently. "I saw, when I touched your head. He finally came clean about the whole Demon thing. But you still have your doubts, don't you?"

"There are just some things that don't add up," she replied.

"Such as?"

Fine. If he really wanted to know, she would tell him. "Such as...YOU!" she exclaimed. "How about all of that stuff you said, and did?"

Crowley smirked. "Hello. I'm the King of Hell. We've met, right? I'm a despicable individual. Plus, it was so much fun watching my Brother's torment. Yours, too, to be dead honest."

"OK, then how about the reverse ritual?" Gail fumed.

"What about it?" he asked her warily. But he was pretty sure he knew what she was getting at, and frankly, he was impressed that she had picked up on it.

"If none of that Demon stuff supposedly ever happened, then why was I brought to you during the reverse ritual?" she said angrily. "If you never touched me in that warehouse, then how could you ever have been...'intimate'...with me?" She felt like she was going to throw up, just saying those words to him. But she had to know. Even if he'd been lying this whole time, going along with the Demon fiction just because he apparently hated both of them enough to see them suffer like that, then how could she have been brought to him under the ritual?

Crowley let out a breath. "All right. Since you're such a clever little thing, I'll tell you. I may have...shall we say...taken a couple of liberties with you, that time I brought you to Hell." It was more accurate to say that he had abducted her, of course, but the King figured he'd better not put it that way. She was going to be livid enough, as it was. Except for the fact that Castiel hadn't been a Demon, that whole episode had played out pretty much the way that Gail would remember it. Castiel and the Winchesters had been on their way to kill Crowley, and soft-hearted Gail had intervened on his behalf. Who knew why? Did it matter? Just another Tuesday, for the lot of them. Poor Castiel; he had been insane with worry while she had been gone. But he had come into Hell to save her, riding on his white horse. Castiel wasn't supposed to be able to access Hell, yet whenever Crowley turned around, there his Brother was, rescuing one of his people from Crowley's clutches.

Gail's jaw dropped open. "Liberties?!" she yelled, as soon as she could find her voice. "What the hell does THAT mean?"

"Don't worry, I didn't actually - " He stopped, then started again. "We didn't do what you and your not-so-sainted husband do in the bedroom."

"WE?" she shrieked. "We? WE didn't do anything! You molested me!" She reached for her blade. Maybe he would kill her, but she was damn well going to punch some holes in him, first. Right now, she was too angry to care about what he would do to her. It was what he had already done to her that he had to answer for. How dare he?!

But she came up empty, and Crowley had that stupid smirk on his face again. And then she remembered: her blade was lying on the floor in the castle, where he'd blasted it out of her hand.

"I hate you," she hissed at him.

Crowley tilted his head in acknowledgement. "Fair enough. But, I thought you would be happy to receive confirmation that that whole Demon thing was just a sham. Although, to be honest, I still think that Castiel could benefit from having a little of me in him." He looked her up and down, smirking. "As could you."

She wound up to slap him, but of course, he caught her hand before it made contact with his face.

"Sorry, sweetheart," he said softly. "Your sister-in-law stabbed me earlier. That's all you lot get today."

She was furious. Gail was sure that even her own husband had never been as angry at Crowley as she was right now. She'd already sent the message to Cas on their private frequency to tell him that she was fine, but she fervently wished that she knew where she and Crowley were, so she could tell Castiel to come here and end this farce of a "relationship", once and for all.

"Go ahead and communicate with him if you want, but he's not going to ride in here on a white horse and save you from the evil King this time," Crowley sneered. "Even when he was Lancelot, he didn't save you. Castiel's got a history of bungling rescue operations, never more spectacularly than that one time that you and I were together, all alone."

"That wasn't his fault," she retorted automatically. "And I'm glad he didn't come for me then. You know, you guys always accuse him of being selfish, but that time, he tried to do the right thing and save all of those people, instead of just me." Wait; what was she talking about? Now she was starting to get the visions to go along with what she was saying: a set of drums, bloody syringes, a cheap hotel, and a butcher knife. What the hell?!

He saw the look on her face and realized that it was all coming back to her now, as the cliche went. Yes, he and Gail had a bit of a history all of their own. There had been a time, one time only, that Castiel had been so busy trying to be the hero in another location that he had let Gail slip right through his fingers. When Cas and Gail had had their shared delusion about their supposed Demon period, Castiel had imagined torturing people, on Earth and in Hell, because he'd done it before, in the Angel Wars. And when Gail had imagined gaining admittance to the wing where Lucifer's cage sat in Hell, she had pictured Crowley injecting her with his blood, because she'd had that prior experience, the year that she and Cas and the Winchesters had first met. But that wasn't the only time they had shared needles, and she was remembering that now.

"Be that as it may, here we are, and here he isn't, once again," Crowley said softly. "Be honest; aren't you tired of him being elsewhere, whenever you really need him? Embrace your dark side, Nicki."

Then his hand was on her forehead again, and they went down the rabbit hole together.

VIGNETTE - THE END

Cas was crazy now. He had received Gail's message saying that she was OK, but Crowley had taken her somewhere outdoors, and she didn't know where. There were no visible landmarks. She was unable to relay to him where she was, so he was unable to go to her.

His eyes were blazing as he paced the floor of the room, thinking furiously. Where would Crowley have taken her? Back to the pub? No, she'd said they were outdoors. To the crossroads, maybe? He popped over there, but they weren't there. Then he popped back to the castle and resumed his pacing.

Dean put his hand on Cas's arm, trying to comfort his friend. "Cas, you've gotta calm down."

Cas wheeled on him. "Calm down?! How am I supposed to calm down, Dean? You know what he's like! He'll kill her again! What's to stop him?" he exclaimed wildly.

Dean's forehead wrinkled. "Again? What do you mean, again?" To his recollection, the only guy that had ever killed Gail was Metatron, and since she had been a human then, they'd been lucky enough to get her back. Crowley was always in the habit of threatening them, but he never seemed to do anything about it.

Cas pursed his lips, letting out a frustrated breath. Dean obviously had no recollection of being in King Arthur's court, nor did any of the others. But, to be fair, Cas and Gail hadn't actually remembered that little episode until just recently, themselves. It was always easier for otherworldly beings to remember their previous incarnations, probably because they didn't have the burden of disbelief that most humans seemed to carry around with them. The humans that Cas and Gail knew and loved were more open-minded than most, but still, it was hard to break through that barrier.

And, none of their family or friends had been involved the one time that Gail had needed Cas the most, and he had failed her. He had let her down then, and he was letting her down now.

"Where would he have taken her, Dean?" Cas pleaded. "Sam? Frank? Anyone?"

But no one had any ideas; nothing specific, anyway. "I don't think they're very far from here, though," Sam mused aloud, "not as long as the Tablet's still here. None of us can touch it. Clearly, he's the only one who can. If he really wants it, he's got to come back here and take it."

What Sam was saying was very logical, but it didn't make Cas feel any better. And he felt even worse when Paul said, "Maybe he's holding her for ransom. Her, for the Tablet."

That didn't feel right, though. If that was the case, why wouldn't Crowley have contacted Castiel on their private frequency and demanded the ransom? Cas said this to the group now.

"Good thinking, though, Mister 'Cracker-ass cracker'," Frank said with a half-smile. "Right now, I'm too worried about my sister, but remind me to give you a high-five about that, later on."

Paul looked at him. So this guy was Castiel's brother-in-law. Gail's brother. "You and Gail don't look like each other," Paul remarked.

"Really? I thought all of us crackers looked alike," Frank quipped.

Paul's eyes narrowed. Was this guy being funny, or not? He couldn't quite decide.

"Don't mind him," Jody said, giving Frank an admonishing look. "He thinks he's funny. Thanks for helping us with Crowley, by the way."

Paul inclined his head in acknowledgement. "And who might you be?"

"Sheriff - sorry. Force of habit. Jody Mills," she said, extending her hand for him to shake. "Make that, retired Sheriff."

Paul looked at her hand, bemused. A cop. A Sheriff, even. It wasn't too long ago that instead of offering him her hand, she would have been barking at him to assume the position. And then he would have been in a jail cell, even if he had committed no crime. And that's if he was lucky. If the officer pulled a gun, it became an even dicier proposition. He'd known guys who had been killed that way. They called it WWB; Walking While Black.

But he took Jody's hand and pumped it once, then let go. "Sheriff," he said warily.

"Call me Jody. I told you, I'm retired." She gestured around them. "Though you wouldn't know it, really."

"You just have a higher calling, now," Chuck said. He walked over to where they were standing.

Paul eyed him. "You're an Angel."

"Chuck," he said, and he stuck his hand out for Paul to shake.

Paul was amazed. So, this was what it was like to be treated like a member of a team. Like an equal. Nobody here seemed to care about the colour of his skin, or even about the fact that he had been working with the enemy up until just recently. Now he was sure that his decision to seek redemption had been the right one.

So he shook Chuck's hand, and then he looked at the Tablet. "Maybe I'll see if it'll let me touch it," Paul said to them. "I'm technically a resident of Purgatory right now; maybe I'm still evil enough."

Cas stopped his pacing and looked sharply at Paul. "What, Castiel? Still don't trust me?" Paul said quietly.

Cas frowned. He guessed he did. Still, he moved closer to the Tablet, just as Paul was doing the same. If Paul were able to pick it up, Castiel could seize him if he tried to pop away with it.

But Paul couldn't pick it up, either. While it didn't blast him across the room, as it had Cas and Frank, it gave off a sort of electric shock.

"Ow!" Paul exclaimed, shaking his hands. He looked ruefully at Castiel. He'd known what the Angel had been thinking when he'd moved closer, but Paul supposed he couldn't really blame him. Trust had to be earned, same as redemption. "Sorry," Paul said to Cas.

Cas nodded briefly, then resumed his pacing. He was growing more frantic by the minute. Gail wasn't answering his messages, nor was Crowley. Where were they? What was Crowley doing to her?

Nicki was sipping a beer, watching Sly's band play their last set of the night. She hated beer, but she was on a budget. Her English holiday was almost over, and she was almost broke. She'd started out staying in a decent hotel, but it was a lot more expensive here than she'd thought it would be, so she'd downgraded to a hostel. Still, she would have had enough for the entire time had she not met Sly.

She watched him now, smashing his drum kit enthusiastically as the band reached the climax of their last song. The music was raw and discordant, and the young people in the pub loved it. They were stomping their feet and shouting out the lyrics to every song, shaking their fists and bobbing their heads.

While Nicki wasn't entirely sold on the music itself, she was caught up in the enthusiasm of the fans, and she felt a sense of belonging when she was here. She was a shy girl, but when she'd come here and sat at one of the front tables, the local fans had accepted her as one of their own. She'd been coming to the pub every night, and a few days ago, she had come here in the afternoon as well, because she was drawn to the place. Sly and his band had been there, having a few drinks with their manager. Then their manager had left, and Sly had walked over to the table where she was sitting by herself.

"Hello, luv," he said. "You look familiar."

Nicki couldn't believe he was talking to her. She took a gulp of her drink for courage, and then she said, "I come here to watch you guys every night."

"So, you're a fan of our music, then?" he asked her with a casual smile.

"No," she said, and his smile faded. Dammit. Why had she said that? "I'm a fan of you," she blurted out.

His smile returned. "Is that right?" he said. He pulled out a chair across from her and sat down, straddling it. "Hey, Jack, throw us a fag," Sly called over to the lead singer. Jack tossed a pack of cigarettes to him, and Sly opened the pack, extending it to Nicki. "Smoke?" he said.

She was hesitant. She'd only tried it once, and she didn't want to make a fool of herself. But everybody smoked here, and she didn't want to look uncool. So she took a cigarette out of the pack, and Sly lit it for her. Then he lit one for himself and sat back, regarding her.

"You're American," he remarked.

"Yeah," she replied. Oh, boy. What a sparkling conversationalist she was.

"Maybe you can tell me a little something about America, then," Sly said. "Our manager just told us he's booked us on a tour there."

Nicki's heart leapt. Her vacation was over at the end of this week and she'd been sad, thinking she was never going to see him again. Them, she amended to herself. The band. That was what she'd meant.

"I can tell you all kinds of things about the States," she said, taking a cautious puff on her cigarette. "What would you like to know?"

They talked for about an hour, and then he had invited her back to his place. She had been a little nervous about that, wondering if he would try something, but he had been surprisingly reticent. They had sat on his couch and talked, having a few more drinks, and he'd told her that their manager was very excited about the upcoming tour. If they were as big of a hit across the pond as they were here in the U.K., they were all going to be millionaires. Which was just as well, he'd told her, because he had some expensive habits.

"Really?" she'd asked him, curious. "Like what?"

And that was when Sly showed her the needle.

"Congressman Rayburn," his assistant said.

He looked up from his desk, smiling. "I said to call me Liam. Please."

She smiled back. "Sorry, Liam. We just got the call. Your trip has been approved."

He nodded. Truthfully, he'd been prepared to use his own money for the trip, even if it hadn't been approved. There was something very wrong going on down there, he was sure of it. When you heard that many negative things about a particular situation, there had to be something the matter. In any event, he had to find out, one way or the other. They were talking about well over a thousand American people, maybe even closer to two thousand, possibly being held against their will. What kind of a leader would he be if he didn't investigate that?

The Congressman's assistant started making phone calls from the list that he had provided, and he began calling around, too. There would be a few other representatives from the government going, a group of journalists, and a couple of dozen relatives of the compound's residents. The more vociferous ones had basically camped out on his doorstep for months leading up to this, telling him that he needed to do something for those people. To save them from the man who had lured them down there and was now holding them there, either by force, or by emotional blackmail.

At first, Liam had told the relatives that there was nothing they could do. These people were adults, and they had the right to worship however and whomever they chose. But he'd started nosing around anyway, making inquiries, and soon, the voices had become too loud to ignore. So he had petitioned the government of the country where the compound was for their permission to come, on a fact-finding mission. But they had refused him their permission. Not that Rayburn was going to let a little thing like that stop him, of course. Sometimes, you had to take matters into your own hands. His Father had taught him that. The Good Lord helps those who help themselves, and so on. Besides, the more he heard about this man and his so-called "religion", the more concerned Liam became. This guy had False Prophet written all over him, and all of those people could be in danger. He'd seen it before. That kind of thing almost never ended well.

When the Congressman was refused entry, he'd been preparing to charter a flight at his own cost, whether he was welcome or not. But now that he had the green light, he was going to make arrangements to take a slightly smaller group, so as not to overwhelm the man. At this point, Liam was hoping that cooler heads would prevail, and that their visit would go amicably. He started to pack a bag.

Nicki no longer sat up front near the stage, even though she could have. As Sly's girlfriend, she was afforded VIP status. Well, such as it was, anyway. The drinks service was better, and her picture was almost always on the news, or in the tabloids. But the closer to the stage you sat, the more risk you ran. Punks didn't generally care where their spittle landed. And lately, the "fans" had taken to hurling things at the band. At first, they'd thought of it as performance art. The guys would dodge the objects, then pick them up and hurl them back, or they would spit back, if they were hydrated enough. That had gotten people talking, and kids were turning up in throngs to be part of the experience. Then the reporters had come, and the band were well on their way to becoming household names.

But it was all turning to dust in their hands. It soon became apparent that the band was merely regarded as a joke, and their alleged fans were spitting and throwing things at them because they were being encouraged to do so. Sly's group was a screen onto which they could project their sense of disconnection with society, and their generalized feelings of rage. Some things changed over the years, but some things remained the same. Youth had always been rebellious. But it didn't help that none of the guitarists in the band could play more than a chord or two, and Jack didn't sing the lyrics, so much as screech them.

Sly was the only one in the group with any discernible talent, at least as far as Nicki was concerned. She had been pushing him to leave the band and go out on his own, or at least to do a demo that she would help him flog to the record labels. But he had grown weary of America, and he was losing any sense of ambition he might have once had. Sly was a simple fellow, and he was sliding deeper and deeper into his addiction.

For a long time, Nicki had resisted the needle. She would drink, she would smoke cigarettes, and she had even tried a recreational drug or two at one or two of the band's legendary parties. She and Sly lived together now, but even though they shared a bed, their relationship had never been consummated. She had expected that it would be at some point, but Sly had never been able to seal the deal, as it were. Most nights he was so wasted that he could barely even make it to the bed before passing out. If he made it there at all. And truth be told, many nights Nicki was not much better.

But there was something about the needle that scared her. It represented the ultimate surrender to her. To give in to the needle would be to truly give up on her life, and Nicki was still way too young to do that. Sly had already given up, and she was growing tired of treading water, trying to swim and hold him above the waterline, too.

Then came the night that their manager packed up and left for England, declaring the band to be nothing but a bunch of pathetic losers whose 15 minutes of fame were long over now.

"Slag him!" Sly had exclaimed. "Who needs him?"

Jack had shrugged. "Not me. I'm a star now. I've got an agent, and I'm going solo. He thinks I can play Las Vegas."

Nicki had had to turn away so he wouldn't see her smirking. Vegas. A bagful of mating cats had a better chance of selling tickets.

Sly frowned. "What are the rest of us supposed to do, then? I thought we were mates."

"This is America," Jack had said in a casual tone. "You know, capitalism. Free enterprise. Every man for himself. Besides, I thought Yoko was encouraging you to go solo, too," he added sarcastically, nodding towards Nicki.

Sly was uncomfortable. "I don't care about that. I just enjoy bashing the skins with you lads."

"Well, it was fun to play the pubs for a while, but I want to get rich," Jack had said. "You should, too. That little habit you think we don't know about costs a lot of money, and you can't hang onto your little groupie there with your looks alone. Heroin makes you skinny, Sly. Try eating a meal once in a while, maybe."

Sly had wound up and punched Jack in the face, and the fight was on. The two men had tussled for a while as the party guests slunk out, and then Jack got up off the floor and grabbed a full bottle of whiskey from the bar, gave Sly the one-finger salute, and stalked out of the apartment, slamming the door.

Sly had sat there in the middle of the floor amid all of the debris and broken glass, and then he'd done the one thing that Nicki couldn't handle from him: he had started to cry.

She couldn't take it anymore. She walked into the bedroom and got his kit out from the nightstand drawer, bringing it out to where he sat. Then she got down on the floor with him, moving gingerly, mindful of the broken glass.

She handed it to him, then extended her arm. "Do me," she said tersely. Sly looked at her. Was she sure? She nodded. "What the hell," Nicki said. "Might as well find out what all the fuss is about."

Sly smiled. She really did love him, then. He tied off her arm and injected her, as gently as he could.

It had been a fairly pleasant day and night at the compound. Congressman Rayburn and his group had been treated to dinner, and some musical entertainment. The self-titled Reverend had been cordial and hospitable, but Liam just got a bad vibe from him. He was getting a bad vibe from the whole place. It was like one of those photos you took that, when you got it back from the drugstore, it had parts of a different picture on it. He guessed they called that a double exposure. The compound's residents were smiling, and they seemed very happy on the surface. But just underneath, if you looked a little more closely, it was obvious that things weren't what they seemed. When the Reverend wasn't looking their way, many of the people were staring at Liam and the members of his party with sad, forlorn expressions. Then, when their leader would look back their way, they would plaster the smiles on their faces again.

Then, when the Reverend got up and wandered around, some of the residents grew bold and approached the visitors, asking them quietly for their help. A group of them wanted to leave, but the Reverend wouldn't let them. He had lost his temper, shouting that they were deserting their Brothers and Sisters. And if they tried to leave, they would regret it. Some of them didn't like the sound of that, and they had discreetly asked the Congressman if they could hitch a ride with him back to the States in the morning. He had told them that he would be happy to help them.

Liam's group spent the night in the compound. But even though the evening itself was peaceful, he hardly slept. If he'd had his way, they would have left immediately after supper. This place gave him the creeps. There was something very, very wrong here. And not only did he feel that the people here needed rescuing, he was starting to feel like he was supposed to be somewhere else, as well. Bad things were about to happen, and he needed to save as many souls as he could.

When the sun rose the next morning, Liam's group went outside to wait for the schoolbus that was due to take them to the airstrip. Some of the Reverend's followers came out of their huts, and some of them had tote bags with them, stuffed with clothes and a few personal possessions.

The Reverend came out from the mansion, and his driver brought him to the front entrance of the compound. He got out of the jeep with a smile for the Congressman. But that smile disappeared when he saw the residents standing there stoically, their bags sitting in the mud at their feet.

"What's going on here?" he barked.

"These people have asked for safe passage back to the States," Liam said calmly. "They will be accompanying us to the airfield."

The Reverend was looking at his followers, all of whom were avoiding his gaze. "Why?" he asked them. But no one had the courage to answer him. He was livid, but he was trying not to show it. It was a small group, and the politician and his party were leaving. If he could just keep it together until they left, he could lock down the compound after that. Then he would escalate the plan. They were clearly being persecuted for their beliefs now, and their rewards in the next life would be plentiful. At least, that was what he was going to tell them, anyway.

The schoolbus pulled up, and the Congressman shepherded everyone on board. Then he turned to the Reverend.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Liam said, with no inflection in his voice. "I'll keep in touch, and I'll encourage many of my constituents to pay attention to your message and keep an eye on your flock."

The men stared each other in the eyes. The inference was clear: Rayburn was going to make sure that the Reverend and his people weren't left alone to practice their religion the way that they saw fit. Now he knew that he would have to proceed with the plan immediately.

The Reverend put out his hand for the Congressman to shake. Liam looked at it for a moment, but then he shook, not wanting to antagonize the man when Liam was on the verge of getting some of his people to safety. Hopefully, his thinly veiled warning that the Reverend's practices were going to be scrutinized would be enough to ensure that the man behaved himself, at least until the Congressman could get back home and use whatever influence he may have to take care of this guy once and for all.

Then they were heading for the airstrip, and then they were standing there in the mud, waiting for the planes to be readied. Since he had extra people now, two planes were required, to get them all home. He made sure that the residents of the compound were loaded onto the first plane, and almost all of the women in his party.

He was just about to start helping the men load the bags into the cargo hold of the second plane when he heard the first gunshots.

"You need to get your ass out of bed and take a shower!" Nicki was yelling at Sly. "You stink."

He fixed her with a baleful glare. "No, you need to quit being such a shrew."

"I need to change the sheets," she persisted. "They're filthy and disgusting." As are you, she was dying to add. But she'd better not. The last time they'd gotten into it because of her nagging him, she'd come away with a black eye.

Nicki had pretty much given up on everything by now. After the band broke up, she and Sly had been locked together in a downward spiral of drugs and self-destruction. The only thing she had to look forward to was her next high, because that meant that she could see him again: the man with the blue eyes.

The first time that she had asked Sly to get her high, it had been a transformative experience. Nicki had sat there on the floor amid the broken glass and the mess caused by the fight and, as the drug took hold, the squalid surroundings had melted away. Then she had seen a man, a very handsome man dressed in black jeans and a blue shirt to match his bright blue eyes. He was staring at her with a sad expression, holding his arms out towards her. She'd picked herself up off the floor and walked in his direction, but then Sly had said something to her, and the man had disappeared. But the next time she'd had Sly give her a shot, she had seen the mystery man again. This time, he was smiling at her, reaching out his hand to her. Take my hand, she'd heard in her head. Take my hand, and you will never long for love again. Your life has meaning. Please. Please, before it's too late.

Nicki had scrambled off the bed and run towards the man. But he'd kept backing up, and when she followed him out the balcony door and to the railing, Sly had to pull her back, because she'd been ready to jump. And she had been kicking and screaming, because she'd wanted to go to the man so badly.

So now, just about the only thing she had to look forward to was getting high every day. But the stuff wasn't cheap, and the royalty cheques from the band's album had slowed to a trickle. The group's 15 minutes were indeed up, and now they would just be a footnote in history. They had moved into an extremely squalid hotel in New York City just to save money, but it was only a matter of time until they would be "skint", as Sly had called it.

But for the time being, Nicki just wanted to get high, so she could see her fantasy man again. He was so clean and so pure, and he had such a beautiful smile. But lately, he had mostly looked sad. He told her he was disappointed because she had given up on herself, but he had also told her that if she wanted to live, she might have to save herself, because he might not be there in time. But Nicki really didn't want to live any more. She was convinced now that this man was an Angel, and that he was inviting her to be an Angel, too. That felt right to her, somehow. The fact that an Angel would most likely not be encouraging anyone to commit suicide was not lost on her, though. Suicide was wrong, and it would send you straight to Hell, not Heaven. So, if she wanted to die, she would have to figure out another way.

"What are you looking at?" Sly snarled at her. He reached over to the nightstand and rooted around for a minute. Finally, he found a couple of bills and threw them at her. "Here. Go buy yourself something to eat. I'm sick of you looking at me like that," he told her.

Nicki bent to pick up the money. She only hoped it would be enough. She turned on her heel and left the hotel room.

When the man stood up on the plane with the gun in his hand, the rest of the escapees just stared at him. What was he doing? But then he started to shout that they were all traitors, and then he started to shoot. Many of them died instantly, because he was shooting at such close range, and they had already closed the door of the plane in preparation for takeoff.

At the same time, an open bed truck with half a dozen gunmen pulled up to the airstrip just behind where Congressman Rayburn and the men were. He'd heard the shots and the screaming on the other plane. He dropped the bags he'd been just about to throw into the cargo hold on the second plane to run over there and see what was happening. But now, in desperation, he threw his assistant down to the ground and lay on top of her to try to shield her. He had asked her to get on the first plane, but she had insisted on staying by his side. In retrospect, this decision ended up saving her life. She was one of the three survivors.

As Congressman Rayburn lay in the mud looking up at the gunmen, one of them approached him and looked down at his face.

"Why are you doing this?" Liam pleaded with the man. "We were going to leave you in peace."

"The Reverend doesn't have to justify himself to the likes of you," the gunman said, sneering.

"Then, please spare the innocents," the politician said. "Kill me, if you must. My Father will be OK with that. But, please, don't do this."

"Shut up," the man barked. "Better still, use your breath to say your prayers."

"No, you'd better say yours," Castiel said sharply. Then, his tone softened as he looked off into the distance. "I'm so sorry, Gail. I was going to fly to New York, as soon as we delivered these people safely to their families. I'm so sorry that I let you down. I'm sorry I let them down, too. I'm just a screw-up." Tears began to fill his eyes, but he didn't want Lucifer's lieutenant to see him weep, so he looked at the gunman and barked, "Do it."

Then he felt the bullets enter his body, and then he was gone.

Nicki had put it off for as long as she could. She was still very young, and she was afraid to die. So life went on as it had been for a while. But then one night, with Sly passed out on the bed beside her, she saw her Angel standing at the foot of the bed, and he was crying. He was apologizing, saying that he had planned on coming to New York, but that he wouldn't be able to, now. He said he was a screw-up, and that he had let everyone down. And, he had called her Gail.

Then he had disappeared, and she knew that she would not see him again. She got off the bed and went over to the closet. She had hidden the butcher knife under a pile of dirty clothes. She dug it out now and walked back to the bed with it in her hand.

"Wake up!" she shouted at Sly, poking him in the leg with her free hand. She had poked him hard. He was difficult to rouse when he was passed out like that, and she wanted to piss him off. She yelled and poked him again, and he stirred.

"Wha - ? What the bloody hell, Nicki?" he said. "What's your bleedin' problem?"

"You are!" she exclaimed. "You're a waste of my time! You're a loser, and a failure. I can't stand to look at your stupid face any more."

He was sitting up now, and he was getting very angry. She was making him lose his high, and their supply was dwindling. "Really?" he said. "Well, there's a cure for that, you know."

"I know," Gail said. She thrust the knife at him, handle first. "Please, Crowley. Please, put us all out of our misery. Do it."

He looked at the knife, then at her face. She had the doe eyes now. So, her precious Castiel wasn't coming. Too bad for her. He should just refuse.

Crowley sighed. He swung his legs off the bed and then stood there looking at her for another moment. Then he grabbed the knife and stabbed her in the stomach. She slumped to the floor, smiling. "Thank you," she said to Crowley. Then she closed her eyes and started to walk down the hallway, towards Cas.

Cas slumped down to the floor, with his back to the wall. "I wasn't there for her," he lamented. "I couldn't save her then. I couldn't save any of them. The people back at the compound had already drunk the poison by the time I was killed."

His friends exchanged nervous glances. Cas was losing it. They had no idea what he was talking about.

Well, no one except Bobby, that was. Cas had been talking out loud to himself for a few minutes now, and what he'd said was sounding awfully familiar to Bobby. But then again, Bobby was the oldest one in the room, chronologically speaking. Castiel and Paul were both older, of course, but otherworldly beings didn't count. Paul may or may not have been around then, but if he had been, he was likely already in Hell at the time.

Bobby had been just about to ask Cas if he'd been in Guyana when Crowley and Gail suddenly reappeared.

"I did you a favour back then, and I was trying to help you out now, too," Crowley was saying to her. "You're still playing the damsel in distress, sweetheart. Your husband is a screw-up, and he's a goody-two-shoes, as well. But, you? You aren't Angel material, and you never will be. I knew that from the start, and I think, deep down, you knew it, too. Badness is in your genes."

"The only thing I know is that you have to stop killing me!" she retorted. She reached out and put her hand on his forehead, giving him the hardest push she had ever given anyone, and he was gone.

Crowley landed in the chair behind his desk, in Hell. His rear end hit the seat, hard, and he sat there for a moment, dazed. She had pushed him all the way back to Hell? He couldn't believe it. No one had ever done that to him before. As far as he knew, none of them was even capable of doing it. She must have been really mad.

He started to smile. Damn her. He really wanted to be angry with her. She had cost him the chance to obtain the Hell Tablet. But really, what had he been intending to do with it, anyway? He had no idea if it even contained anything of value, or not. He just hadn't wanted Castiel to have it. He'd been letting his personal feelings cloud his judgement.

Gail. He loved her. He hated her. She pissed him off. She impressed the hell out of him. Crowley had known that she would be special years ago, when he'd found out about her true lineage. Her current incarnation was the one he was truly interested in. That was probably why he hadn't minded hastening her demise in those other incarnations; to hurry her along to this one. Every time he had encountered her in the past, he had tried to encourage her to embrace her true nature. And he'd had some degree of success. When she was Queen Guinevere, she'd become an adulteress. Although to be fair, Castiel in the form of Sir Lancelot, with his baby blue eyes and more-than-generous endowment probably deserved most of the credit, there. Then, when she had been Nicki the groupie, she'd become a drug addict. Even in this present lifetime, he'd been able to corrupt her at the beginning, for a short time. But this time around had been a cheat. There should have been an asterisk beside that one. Crowley had tried to force the issue by injecting her with his own blood, way back when she had first come into the Winchesters' circle, but the King of Hell should have known that wasn't going to stick. When Gail was pushed, she frequently pushed back, one way or another. Every time Crowley's frustration with her crested and he tried to tip her over, the pendulum swung back and knocked him over, instead. You'd think he would learn by now. But the lure of the potential she represented was just too bloody strong.

But now, Crowley had the challenge of needing to have that conversation with Lucifer, and his Brother was going to have a temper tantrum. He'd better figure out what to offer the Devil that might mollify him, since Crowley had come up empty, Tablet-wise.

Crowley uncapped the decanter and poured himself a long one. He always thought better with a drink in his hand.


	6. After

Chapter 6 - After

What Gail really wanted to do was to wipe the hand that had touched Crowley's forehead on her pants. It felt slimy and disgusting. So, he was trying to "help her out", was he? No, he was trying to help himself, as always. Given their history, it didn't even surprise her that he'd been Sly, and she'd been Nicki. She'd learned about their former incarnations as King Arthur and Queen Guinevere fairly recently, or maybe more accurately, she had been reminded of them. Now she realized that a part of her must have remembered being Nicki and receiving injections from Crowley. That was obviously where she'd gotten the whole needle thing from, during the time of the Demon delusions. She and Cas would have to talk about that, and soon.

But right now, she had some business to take care of, and she was wasting precious time.

Gail brought the hand that had touched Crowley up to her face and saw that it was glowing. Her golden essence had mixed with his red to produce a sort of burnt sienna colour, which would have been quite beautiful under a different set of circumstances.

It was now or never. "I need the Tablet case, now!" she yelled. Cas was rushing towards her, but he stopped when he saw her hand. She bent to the floor to pick up the Tablet. The glow was already fading, and when it did, the opportunity would be lost.

"Dean! I need the Tablet case!" she shouted again. He dove for their bag and took out the collapsible case, then ran over towards her, opening the case on the fly.

"Hurry! It's starting to really hurt!" she cried out.

Dean tripped over his own feet in his haste to get to her, and he dropped the case. But he'd gotten it open, and when it fell to the floor, it slid the rest of the way to land at Gail's feet. She dropped to her knees and slammed the Tablet into the case.

They all watched, amazed, as the case closed itself with a snap. It glowed red for a moment, and then the glow disappeared.

"Lucky Ass-Laugh waxes the floors," Dean quipped nervously.

Gail collapsed beside the Tablet case. Cas ran to her and got down on his knees beside her, putting his arms around her. "Are you all right?" he asked her.

God, she wished he'd quit asking her that. "Of course I'm not all right!" she snapped at him. "Why is it that you always ask me if I'm all right when I'm clearly not?!"

Cas was startled. She had been angry with him many times, but she had never spoken to him quite like that. He put his hand under her chin and tilted her face up to look at his. Her eyes flashed red for a moment, and he understood. He took her hand gently in his and kissed it, and the red glow vanished.

Her eyes returned to their usual brown colour, and then she was herself again. "I'm sorry, sweetie," Gail said to him, frowning. "You know I didn't mean that."

Cas nodded. He knew. She touched his face, and he kissed her softly on the lips.

"I'll never get used to hearing my badass brother-in-law being referred to as 'sweetie'," Frank piped up suddenly, looking to break the mood in the room.

"I know, it's weird, isn't it, Pookie?" Jody said with a wicked grin, and everyone laughed.

Gail looked over at her brother. She and Cas hadn't been at the bunker that day to hear that particular exchange. "'Pookie'?" she exclaimed, smiling slowly. "Has Christmas come early? Oh, my God, Frank. I hope you know I'm calling you that from now on!"

"You're aware that I'm packing about ten different weapons right now, right?" Frank said to her, but he was smiling.

Cas helped Gail to her feet as Sam grabbed the Tablet case by its handle. "Let's get the hell out of here," Bobby said to the group.

"Just a minute," Cas said. He let go of Gail's hand for a moment and walked over to Paul, putting his hand out. "I want to thank you for your help today," Cas said to him.

Paul looked at Cas's hand, surprised. He never thought that he would see the day. He shook with Castiel, and then Cas said, "We're going to go back to the hotel now to get our things, and then we'll have to get the Tablet home, then make arrangements to get the next one. We can't let up now; we're so close."

Paul nodded. "I'll hang around here for a while and see if any more monsters come around. Can I get one or two of those weapons from you guys?"

Dean handed him a sword, and Frank passed over an axe. Paul nodded his thanks, then said, "From what I saw, and what you told me, it sounds like there won't be many left, but we'll see. Once I take care of business, I'll go see Henry, like I said."

Cas told Paul the location of the hospital where Henri had been, adding grimly, "I'd go soon."

Paul raised an eyebrow. So it was as bad as that, was it? "Any message you want me to give him?"

"Just give him our love, please," Gail said, putting her hand on Paul's arm.

"That, I can do," Paul responded. Then he winked out of the castle.

Cas looked thoughtful. "There may just be hope for him yet," he mused aloud. He looked at Gail. "I'm sorry to ask this of you, but do you think you might be up to restoring the room? If not, just say so, and we'll just have to leave it as it is. I don't want you tiring yourself out."

She was already tired from all of her recent physical and emotional exertions, but as Gail looked around, she realized what a mess the room was truly in. There was blood all over the place. She walked around and cleaned up the blood and broken furniture, then put her blade back in her pocket. She leaned against Cas for support and he glanced at her, concerned.

"Let's go," she said. "I'll rest when we get home."

The Angels all joined hands with the humans and then winked them back to the hotel.

The lobby was quiet when they walked in. It was fairly late in the evening by now, so they weren't particularly surprised not to see anyone. And it was just as well, because most of them had blood spatter on their clothes. Gail had been too exhausted to do any more cleaning, and they were about to leave, anyway.

Bobby limped across the lobby towards the stairs. "I'm gonna go pack," he advised the group. "Let's all meet back here. I guess we should probably tell Klara we have to leave, though. Then at least she can rent out our rooms." He began to walk up the stairs, leaning heavily on the banister for support. It was amazing how much you actually missed your pinky toe when you no longer had it. But he would just have to get used to it. Suck it up, Buttercup, he would have said to any of the other men. It still beat being eaten alive by a Leviathan all to hell.

Frank and Jody followed him up the stairs, then Chuck. That left Cas and Gail and Sam and Dean in the lobby. The four of them looked at each other.

"It's kind of a shame we can't stay one more day," Sam remarked. "Give Klara an opportunity to fatten you guys up a bit more," he added, smiling at Cas and Gail.

Cas smiled wearily. If he weren't so eager to get the Tablet in the safe and move on to the last one, he might be tempted. "I'll see if Klara's still in the office," he told the brothers. He looked down at Gail. "Do you want to go upstairs and rest for a minute?" he asked her. "Or, better still, why don't you just rest over there, for a moment?" He indicated the couch in the lobby. "After I'm done speaking with Klara and then modifying her memory so that she does not remember the blood, I'll bring our bags downstairs."

Gail nodded. She was way too tired to argue. She flopped down on the couch and leaned back, closing her eyes.

Sam and Dean moved over to the staircase and joined the slow procession upstairs as Cas moved around behind the front desk to knock on the office door. But as he did so, something on the floor caught his eye. He looked down and saw Klara's dead body behind the counter. The poor woman's throat was torn open, and she appeared to be looking at Castiel, accusing him of causing her death. And, hadn't he, really? If Cas and his group had never come here to stay, Klara would still be alive.

Gail screamed, and Cas wheeled around to see Jason standing over her. She was trying to struggle, but she was too weak. He was leaning down, trying to get at her neck. Cas vaulted over the front desk and ran to the couch. He went for the sword he'd been carrying in a scabbard at his side and then he realized: he'd handed it to Dean to give to Paul, back at the castle.

Instead, he grabbed Jason and pulled him away from Gail.

"Hello, Castiel," Jason said, smirking. Cas could see the fresh blood on his teeth. He felt another stab of guilt. Jason had obviously killed Klara and had been here laying in wait for them.

Cas reached into his jacket and took out his blade, but he knew that he couldn't kill Jason with it. Still, it was a weapon. And at least he had gotten Jason away from Gail.

"I'll bet you didn't know that I've been seeing your wife behind your back," Jason taunted him. "She belongs to me, now."

"She belongs to no one," Cas said angrily, and he punched Jason in the face. Jason reeled back, but he kept his feet.

"If you only knew how delicious Gail's blood was, you might consider joining me, so that you could feed on her, too," Jason said, smirking. Castiel was trying to menace him with an Angel blade. Seriously? Jason was an Alpha vampire now. He was also an eternal being; he would just let Castiel tire himself out, throwing his child's tantrum, and then Jason would kill Castiel, then go to Gail and feed on her all he wanted. Now he was thinking that he might turn her, after all. Something that was that good shouldn't go to waste.

Cas was beyond enraged now. He flung his knife to the floor, swearing in Enochian. Forget the decapitation; he was going to throttle Jason with his bare hands. He put his hands around Jason's neck, intending to choke the crap out of him. But Jason grabbed Cas and threw him across the room.

"I'm much stronger than you now," Jason gloated. "I can do this all night!" As Cas scrambled to his feet and Jason stood waiting for his foe's next charge, the vampire felt a sharp pain in his leg. He looked down to see a snake, sinking its fangs into him.

When Cas had thrown his blade down, he had unwittingly uttered the phrase that turned it into a serpent. He had been so blindly angry at what Jason had said about Gail that it had been completely unintentional on his part. But, it had done the trick. Then, with the very last ounce of strength she had, Gail had commanded the snake to attack Jason.

"Now, that's what I call poetic justice," Frank said. Chuck had seized Frank as soon as they'd heard the commotion, because Frank had been the nearest person on the stairs holding a weapon in his hand, and the Angel had popped Gail's brother downstairs instantly. Frank gripped the broadsword he was holding tight in his hands and swung it as hard as he could, taking Jason's head clean off his shoulders.

He'd swung with such force that the decapitated head went flying across the lobby, landing in Dean's arms. He and Sam had come running down the stairs with Jody hot on their heels, Dean in the lead. He tossed the head to Sam, a look of disgust on his face. They played Hot Potato with the head a couple of times before it fell to the carpet. It went rolling over to where Cas was now standing. He pounced on it, calling to Frank to throw him the sword. Gail's brother tossed Cas the weapon and he drove it through one of the eye sockets, then through the other, pinning the head to the floor. Pointless, maybe, but it made Cas feel good, anyway.

Cas stood there for a moment, panting from the adrenaline his rage had produced. For a minute, he considered desecrating the head further. But then he looked over at the couch where Gail was laying, slumped and pale, and he rushed over to her instead. On the way by, he said the phrase in reverse, turning the snake back into his blade. Cas picked it up from beside Jason's leg and automatically stashed the knife in his pocket on his way over to the couch. He clapped Frank on the shoulder on his way by, as well. Then he sat on the couch beside Gail, cradling her in his arms.

Bobby had finally reached the bottom step, and he looked at everyone. "What'd I miss?" he said, and they all looked at each other with grim smiles.

"Nothing much," Frank said, shrugging. "Cas and I decided we'll beheading on home now."

And, because Frank was the hero of the hour, they all let that one slide.

They were all back at the bunker a few minutes later. Dean locked the Tablet away in the safe while Cas led Gail to her usual chair and eased her down into it. He knelt beside her. "Will you be all right while I take care of a couple of things?" Cas asked her.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, Cas. I just need to recharge my batteries a bit," she told him. She touched his face. He looked so concerned that she wanted to reassure him. But if she looked half as worn out as she felt, Gail couldn't really blame him.

Cas examined her face for another moment. He was reluctant to leave her side right now. But there were a couple of things he needed to make right before they could put Romania behind them.

"Go ahead, Cas, we got this," Sam said, putting his hand on Cas's shoulder.

"Yeah. If we need to, we'll just carry her to one of the beds and make her lie down," Frank added.

Gail smiled weakly. "Good luck with that. I have a weapon too, you know." But truthfully, that idea didn't sound half bad to her. She wanted to try to power through it, though. She knew that Cas would be very eager to get the information about the final Tablet now. Maybe he would even want to go and see Quinn the moment he got back from Romania. So, she'd better look alive.

Cas kissed her softly on the forehead. "I'll be back in a few minutes," he told her, then winked out.

As soon as he was gone, she sat back in her chair and closed her eyes briefly, sighing. What a crazy couple of days.

"Are you gonna be OK?" Dean asked Gail, giving her a gentle nudge. "Now that Dad's gone, you can tell me the truth."

Gail's eyes flew open. "What do you mean by that?" she asked him sharply.

Dean was a little startled by her tone. He'd just been teasing her, the same way they always did. But he guessed he could cut her a break right now. She'd just spent the past couple of days being a vamp snack, and then she'd been abducted by Crowley. Again. It would probably take her a day or so to regain her equilibrium.

So he merely said, "Nothing. I didn't mean anything by it. Do you want a drink, by any chance? I'll even get it for you; how's that?"

"It's eight in the morning, Dean," Jody pointed out. She was rubbing her eyes with her hands, and Frank lifted Robbie off her lap and deposited the boy on his own. Jody looked tired, too. It had been a busy couple of days. After Cas got back and they figured out what the plan was going forward, Frank was going to take his wife to the nearest bedroom here in the bunker and then they were going to sleep around the clock.

"At least your house will be nice and clean for you when you and Cas go home," Barry said softly to Gail, trying to cheer her up.

"I'm still on Romanian time," Dean was telling Jody in the meantime. He looked around the table. "Anybody else?"

He had no takers, at first. The other humans were too worn out from the day's exertions, and most of them were looking half-asleep now that the adrenaline was beginning to wear off.

But then: "I'll drink with you, Dean," Bobby said. "Or I'll have one or two, anyway." He grimaced, shifting his foot. "Call it medicinal purposes."

Meanwhile, Gail had been sitting there, looking at Barry. While she appreciated his efforts to bolster her spirits, a part of her felt almost inexplicably annoyed. He had no idea what they'd just been through. Here he was, blathering on about housecleaning, when there were way more important things to talk about. The encounter she'd had with Crowley was really bothering her, for a number of reasons. What had been the point of that little blast from the past, anyway? She guessed it had been instructive, in a way. At least she had received direct confirmation from Crowley that the Demon period had indeed all been a big lie, and that was pretty huge. Plus, she now knew where her fevered imagination had gotten the false memory of Cas having injected her. It had actually been Crowley who had injected her with a different kind of poison, when he had been Sly and she had been Nicki. Boy, did she owe Cas an apology. But she couldn't even get too angry at Crowley for having done it, because she'd asked him to do it. What was wrong with her?

Then, there were those comments that Crowley had made just before she had lost it and given him the giant push out of the castle. Most of what he'd said she had largely ignored as being the usual insults and vitriol, but this time, he'd added a couple of things that had gotten her wind up. He'd talked about "knowing from the start" that she wasn't Angel material. The start of what? And, most telling of all, he had mentioned badness being in her genes. Did he know something about her true parentage? Why had he really kidnapped her and Frank, a few years back?

But right now, the priority was clearly to get the last Tablet and then to figure out what was required to obtain after that. But after all of that was finally, blessedly over, she would be talking to Crowley again. And the next time, she would make sure that both she and Cas had their blades at the ready. And she'd be getting some answers.

Gail continued to look at Barry. None of that had anything to do with her friend, though, and to be fair, he had no idea what was going on in her head. He had just been trying to be nice. So she smiled and said, "How is that, Barry?"

"It's that damn chore jar he keeps in the kitchen," Tommy groused good-naturedly. "Since you and Cas have been away so much, he's expanded it to include your place, too. We've been going over there, dusting and vacuuming."

"And since it's December now, we brought the box with the Christmas tree and the decorations up from the basement into the living room," Barry added. "I realize you have to take care of the business at hand, but..."

"We have a basement?" Cas said mildly. He had just popped back into the bunker. He took his usual seat beside Gail, looking at her face. She put a smile on for him. "I know. Who knew, right?" Gail said to her husband.

"I'm glad you're back, Cas," Barry said. "I was just telling Gail that we've been over to your place, cleaning and whatnot. You guys can tell us whether you'd like us to do the tree, or whether you want to do it yourselves. I guess it'll depend on your schedule, right?"

Cas frowned deeply. "You haven't been driving over there, have you?"

"No, Cas. I would never let them breach security like that," Ethan answered. "Riley and I pop them over. And, in case you're going to ask, we brought one of the candlesticks when we went, too, just to be extra careful."

Cas nodded, relieved. Now that they were only one Tablet shy of their goal, Lucifer would be going wild. From Lucifer's viewpoint, the idea of opening the Portal to Purgatory and releasing all of those monsters had ostensibly been a good one. If Castiel had been in his position, he might very well have done the same thing. But the Devil hadn't taken it far enough. According to Paul, Lucifer had only allowed a couple of dozen or so out before he'd had them seal the Portal up again. Castiel had done the math in his head, and he was fairly certain that his group had taken care of most, if not all, of them. If there were any stragglers, Paul would have gotten them. So, while it had been a good strategic move on Lucifer's part, they had been able to overcome that obstacle. It was a bit of a mystery to Castiel as to why Lucifer had put a limit on the amount of monsters to come out of there. Had he allowed more, they would surely have been overwhelmed by the sheer numbers alone. Perhaps Lucifer didn't want to be bothered with the job of corralling them all afterwards, or maybe he'd been afraid that too many Leviathans would muscle their way through. It was really too bad that they couldn't somehow harness an Alpha Leviathan and threaten Lucifer with it.

But the bottom line was that they had been very successful in Romania. Not only had they obtained the Hell Tablet and locked it away, snatching it from Crowley's grubby hands, but Jason was finally dead.

And Cas had made sure of that, too. When he had winked out of the bunker, the first thing he had done was to go back to the hotel. He had looked down at Jason's body, and his decapitated head, which was still pinned to the floor by the sword. Cas had breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't said anything to anyone, but he had been afraid that Jason would somehow have been able to get up and walk away. It hadn't been lost on Castiel that Leviathans were capable of shapeshifting. But Jason had still been there when Cas got back, and he was still dead. So Cas had pried the sword out of the head and thrown the head on top of the torso, and then he'd popped outside, deep into the woods behind the hotel. So far, they'd been very fortunate not to have been seen by any of the other guests of the hotel, and he wanted to keep it that way. Luckily, it was quite late here by now. Whatever guests remained must all be asleep.

He took the book of matches he'd slipped into his jacket pocket and burned the body and its head in the forest clearing. Then, when there was nothing left of it but ashes, he concentrated very hard and made it rain for a few minutes, putting out the fire.

Then Cas went back to the hotel lobby and cleaned up the blood, and then he went behind the front desk and knelt beside Klara's body. He felt for a pulse, just on the off chance. But it was an exercise in futility, and Cas knew it. He knew very well what dead looked like. All too well. So he popped into the restroom and wet a towel, washing the blood off of her neck as gently as he could. Then he lifted her up and popped her body into the office, setting her in the chair behind the desk. There. That was the best that he could do. Presumably, one of the hotel staff would discover the woman in the morning, and God willing, whatever loved ones she might have would assume that she had passed away of natural causes.

"Goodbye, Klara," he said softly. "Gail and I would like to thank you for your kindness, and for the wonderful meals."

Then, the final errand. Cas took the keys to the Aston Martin out of his pants pocket and walked out to the parking lot of the hotel. He drove the car back to the rental place and left the keys at the front desk, along with a note of apology, advising where the TR7 could be found.

And then he had returned to the bunker, just in time to hear Barry's comment about the Christmas tree.

Cas looked at Gail. "I would imagine that we'd like to do it, if we are able," he replied, and she nodded in agreement.

"If we're home, I was thinking we'd have a tree-trimming party," Gail remarked. "Anybody who wants to help us decorate it can pitch in, and the others can critique what we're doing." Then she smiled. "And the first person who makes any sort of a joke about one of us sitting on top of the tree will have to help us untangle the lights."

"Why is everybody looking at me?" Frank said. "That's an insult. It's way too easy for a man of my considerable talents."

Everyone laughed, and Gail gave Cas's hand a squeeze. He was happy that she seemed to have a little bit of energy back, and he smiled at her now. How nice it was to be thinking of a happy family Christmas celebration, instead of blood, and violence, and death. Cas hoped there would be more of those kinds of times in their future.

Bobby was pouring himself a drink. "OK, let's make this quick," he said grumpily. "I'm gonna have a couple more of these, and then I'm gonna raid the medicine cabinet for painkillers. And then, I think I'll sleep for a couple of days. I assume you'll be going back to Quinn's, to talk to Linda?" he asked Cas.

Cas nodded. "Yes." He looked at Gail again. He wanted to go right away, but he realized she probably needed a bit more rest. But she shook her head. She knew what he was thinking. "Let's go right away," she said. "Tommy'll probably need a bit of time to do his stellar research, anyway." Tommy grinned, appreciating the compliment. Gail continued, "Once we get the information, we can come back here and get Tommy started, depending on where we'll have to go, and then maybe I'll go back to our place and rest up for a couple of hours."

"I'd like to go with you to Quinn's, if that's OK with you guys," Sam said. He had put on a pot of coffee when they had gotten back, and he was drinking some now.

"If you want to come with us, you're certainly welcome," Cas told him. "But, are you not tired?"

"I'm too wired to sleep," Sam replied. It was true, too; now that they had four out of the five Tablets, he could see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it excited him. And he'd liked Quinn, too. He wouldn't necessarily say so out loud, but a part of him felt eager to go just so he could see her again.

Dean could feel their eyes on him now. He sat back in his chair and yawned. "Don't look at me," he told them. "I'm with Bobby. A couple more of these - " he gestured with his glass - "and then a couple of days' sleep sounds damn good to me right now."

"Me, too," Jody said. She leaned against Frank, and he put his arm around her. She frowned in Bobby's direction. "Make sure you don't have too many of those, if you'll be taking painkillers," she said to him.

"Yes, Mother," Bobby retorted, and Dean smirked.

Frank was smirking now, too, but he was looking at Bobby, and Bobby knew Gail's brother well enough by now to know what he had in mind.

Bobby sighed. "OK. I'll allow three toe jokes, and then we'll never talk about it again." Frank opened his mouth, but Bobby held up his hand. "I just have one condition," he continued. "None of those jokes can come from Frank."

"Oh, come on, Bobby, have a heart," Frank moaned, and everyone laughed.

"I've got one," Dean said. "If you'd had to drive that TR7 from the castle, you probably would have had to call a 'toe' truck."

Frank slammed his hand down on the table. "Dammit! That was a good one!" he exclaimed.

"You may have to work harder to bone up on your lore, now," Chuck piped up.

Frank gave him a half-shrug. "Needs a little work, but not bad," he remarked.

"I've got something brewing about 'wee-wee-wee, all the way home', but it isn't there yet," Sam contributed.

"Doesn't matter. You said it, so it counts," Bobby said quickly. "I now declare the subject closed." He looked at Frank. Gail's brother was red-faced now. He had grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen, and he was scribbling furiously.

"Stand back, I think he's gonna blow," Dean wisecracked.

"You're killing my husband, Bobby, just so you know," Jody remarked with a half-smile. "I think you are actually, physically, killing him."

"Tough," Bobby said curtly. He stood from the table, grabbing one of the bottles of alcohol. "Suck it up, Frank. But keep that list. The next time we run into a Leviathan, it's gonna be your turn." Then he limped down the hallway.

They all looked at each other for a moment, and then Frank threw his pen down on the table. "Dammit," he said. "Now I feel like going down there and talking to him. That was a helluva sacrifice he made for all of us. And it was some pretty quick thinking, too."

Frank and Jody stood up from the table. "Well, goodnight," Jody said to the group. She tousled Robbie's hair. "Barry and Tommy will entertain you while your Dad and I get some sleep, but I promise, we'll spend some time together when we get up. OK?"

Robbie frowned momentarily, but he said, "OK, Mom." She didn't like it when he pouted. He walked over to where Tommy was sitting. "I'll tell you what," Tommy said to the boy. "I'll think up a creative writing subject for you, and you can write a story about it. Then, when we find out where these guys are going next, you can help me do some research, if you want. We'll be very quiet and give your Mom and Dad and everyone else a chance to rest. OK?"

"Okay," Robbie said, nodding. Tommy had used one of the best incentives that he had at his disposal to tempt the child into being quiet. Robbie was still very upset about being taken out of school when he'd barely had the chance to learn anything new or make any friends. Tommy did the best he could, but through no fault of his, Robbie was growing up to be a loner, and that was sad. Writing stories was the only safe way that Robbie could visit other places right now, by using his imagination.

Frank nodded to Tommy gratefully. Once again, he felt the guilt. This was no kind of existence for a boy of Robbie's age. But until they ended Lucifer, there was nothing they could do about it. And they were closer, now. Only one more Tablet to get.

"So, let me get this straight," Lucifer was saying to Crowley. "You had the Tablet in your hands, and now, Castiel has it?"

"Regrettably, that is true," Crowley admitted. He had decided to be proactive about the whole thing. Bite the bullet, and all that. The longer he went without telling Lucifer what had happened, the madder the Devil would be. Or, a variation of the truth, was more like it. The entire truth would only serve to inflame Lucifer further.

"I told you, I had it for just a split second," Crowley told Lucifer, making sure to look distressed. "And then, when I was about to smash it on the ground, Castiel shot some of those blue rays he likes to play around with at me from behind, and the bloody thing went flying out of my hands!"

"But, how was Castiel able to obtain it, then?" Lucifer asked, raising his voice. "It's the Hell Tablet! None of them should have been able to get near it, let alone touch it!"

This was dangerous ground they were walking on, now. Lucifer knew a lot of things, but he didn't know what Crowley knew about Gail, and Crowley intended for it to stay that way. "I don't know," he said, somewhat lamely. "Perhaps the fact that I had touched it first enabled one of them to handle it, momentarily." He pasted a smirk on his face. "Or, one of them isn't nearly as righteous as it would seem. As far as I'm concerned, Castiel should be able to sit down with the bloody thing on his lap. I don't know who decides the criteria for what is Evil, but clearly, they've not been paying attention."

Lucifer thrust his arms out and toppled all of the bookshelves in the library. Then he turned around and sent another salvo at the bay window, blasting all of the glass panes out of their frames. Then he stood there clenching his fists, panting with the effort to keep himself from destroying the entire house.

Once his temper was just barely under control, he said, "That's it. The gloves are coming off, now."

"What are you planning?" Crowley asked. He was mostly just curious, although admittedly, he was a little afraid, as well. Lucifer never forgave, and he never forgot. Crowley had better watch his back now.

Lucifer gave him a cold smile. "Never you mind. Watch the news. I'll call you if I need you. You're dismissed," he said with a wave of his hand.

Crowley's eyes flashed red for a moment. Really? Lucifer may be the Alpha Original, but Crowley was still the King of Hell. Lucifer had been Crowley's inmate for untold centuries, and now he was acting like Crowley was his bitch, instead of the other way around. Perhaps Crowley should rethink his position. Or perhaps, Lucifer should rethink his.

"Oh, but before you go, I should tell you something," Lucifer said casually. "While you were in Romania being absolutely useless, I recruited some more of your ranks. And it's a good thing I did, apparently. I had a funny feeling you might not be successful, so I took the liberty. I'll need an army for what I have in mind, and I'm going to be their leader now."

"Is that so?" Crowley said calmly. But his blood was boiling now. They'd just see about that. He snapped his fingers and vanished.

"Mark! Get in here!" Lucifer bellowed. Mark scurried into the room from the hallway, where he'd been standing, listening. Wow, the Gospel writer had thought. This was more like it. Lucifer was asserting his dominance. Finally. It had taken a while, but now, the Angels and the whole world were going to see why Lucifer was the Master.

"Clean this up," Lucifer said to his assistant. "Then send out a call to the leader of the nearest Demon cell. Tell him to come here for a strategy meeting."

Mark bowed low. "Right away, Master." Whatever Lucifer was planning, Mark was all for it.

Rowena threw her shawl and her magic mirror into her satchel. Great. They were all back in the bunker again, so she'd made the trip for nothing. She hadn't been able to even get near Bobby. If it had just been the Angels, or the humans, she could have figured out a way. But when she had seen all of those monsters congregating around the castle, Rowena had had to bail. There were far too many of them in one place, and even though she was the most powerful witch she knew, Rowena was still mortal. Once she'd spotted her first Leviathan near the castle, she'd had to beat a hasty retreat. Like everyone else, she knew better than to mess with those.

So, it was back to the States for her now, and it was time to think up a new plan. She needed a distraction, something to keep all of them occupied while she split Bobby off from the herd. So to speak. But, what could she do to make sure that the men were tamed, and the women were happy enough to let them stay that way?

Then, she had it. She had never tried it on such a grand scale before, but Rowena knew that if anyone could pull it off, she could. It would be her supreme pleasure to see Castiel and Frank under a spell like that, and it would make Bobby putty in her hands. All she would have to do was to keep watch on the group to find out where their next Tablet was located.

Rowena began to smile.

Sam, Cas and Gail were ushered into the seance room.

"I'm very glad to see you all again," Quinn said, smiling warmly at them. "I was starting to get a little concerned." She looked at Sam. "How's your friend Jody?"

"She's fine," Sam said, surprised.

Quinn wanted to say something to them about Jody, but she didn't know if she should. The other day, she had sat down briefly in the chair that Jody had been in when she'd come here with Sam. When Quinn had done that, she'd gotten a very strong feeling about Jody. But, should she say anything about it?

"Oh, you met Jody?" Gail asked Quinn curiously.

"Yes, when you and Cas weren't able to come, she came here with Sam," Quinn replied. "So she's all right, then?"

Gail was uneasy now. "Do you know something about Jody, Quinn?"

"All I know is that I'd encourage her to see the doctor," Quinn replied, somewhat evasively.

Cas was the master of evasion, and he was not fooled. He frowned. "We will, Quinn."

Sam's brow was furrowed. What were they talking about? "We'll tell you later," Gail said to him. Her heart sank a little. She was pretty sure that Frank had told her about Jody in confidence, and now everybody was going to know. But they'd better have a chat with Jody, and soon. If there was something going on with her medically, they'd better make sure she got it taken care of.

Now Quinn felt bad. Sam looked so concerned. She remembered him having told her that he and Jody went way back. She put her hand on his arm as a soothing gesture, but then she removed it immediately, horrified by what she'd seen. That was the problem with being a psychic. Sometimes, you got visions about people who you knew, and liked. And then, you had a dilemma on your hands. The visions didn't always come true, though in the vast majority of cases, some version of what she'd seen did end up happening. Chuck and Kevin would be able to relate. But then, what if what you saw was terrible? Did you tell the person about it, then? It was her experience that most people didn't really want to know. Quinn had a few friends, but she lived a fairly solitary existence for a reason. The cold, hard fact was that the majority of people didn't seem to mind hearing about terrible things that were going to happen to other people, but they didn't want to hear anything like that about themselves, or their loved ones. Non-psychics were always saying that they would want to be warned about it, if something bad might be about to happen to them, but those people were liars. One time, Quinn had been out to dinner with one of her female friends, and they had both reached for the butter at the same time. Their hands had touched, and in that instant, Quinn could see her friend's young son floating face down in a swimming pool, and it looked like he had drowned. So she told her friend what she'd seen, hoping that if the woman was put on alert, she could prevent it from happening. But even though her friend had thanked her, she'd cut the dinner short. And from then on, every time Quinn had called her to suggest that they get together, the woman made excuses. One day, Quinn got fed up and asked what the problem was.

"It's you," the woman had said bluntly. "Because of you, I can never let my son near a swimming pool, ever again. People invite us over for playdates and I can't bring him, because I can't get that image out of my head. So thanks a lot, Quinn. We'll never have another normal summer, thanks to you." Then she had hung up the phone.

So Quinn had learned her lesson from that experience, and usually when she made incidental contact with someone and received flashes of unpleasant things, she made herself ignore them. Besides, these people were here to defeat the Devil himself, so Quinn didn't exactly think that would involve rainbows and unicorns. The violence she'd seen was probably totally understandable.

She escorted them into the seance room and made the usual preparations. An instant after they sat down and held hands, a strange thing happened, though: Oliver and Linda appeared at the same time, at opposite ends of the room.

"Please, I need to talk to you," Oliver said, while Linda said, "It's about time you guys showed up!"

Gail looked from one to the other, then back again. Was there such a thing as Call Waiting for ghosts? she wondered, bemused.

"Whoever you are, you'll have to wait," Linda told Oliver sternly. "This is very important business."

"So is this," Oliver insisted.

"Really?" Linda said sarcastically. "Are you trying to stop Lucifer before he destroys the Earth?"

"Lucifer?!" Oliver exclaimed, shocked.

"That's right, so you need to back off," Linda retorted. "Take a number, or something."

"But I have to talk to Gail," Oliver whined.

"Me? Why?" Gail blurted out.

"I don't care! Make an appointment!" Linda exclaimed.

Quinn decided to take control. "Stop it, you two!" she admonished them. "Linda is right, Oliver. What she has to say takes precedence. But after they're done, if Gail is willing to stay an extra few minutes, I'll allow you to talk to her. Deal?"

Oliver sighed. "Deal." Then he vanished.

"What was all that about?" Sam asked Gail.

"It's a bit of a story," she told him. "With everything that's been going on, we haven't had time to deal with him."

"I'm sorry about that," Quinn said. "I guess I should have told you; he's become a lot more persistent lately."

"Hello! Remember me?" Linda said impatiently. "Lucifer? Armageddon? Any of that ringing a bell?"

"We're sorry, Linda," Cas said. "Please give us any information that you may have."

"I have information, all right, but you're not going to like it," she replied.

Cas let out a breath. Of course. Why did that not surprise him?

"Mark and Luke have been talking," Linda continued. "Mark told him that Lucifer is going to rain down death and destruction on the Earth. He said if you get the last Tablet, he's going to make it his mission to kill as many humans as possible, and that it'll be all your fault, Cas." Gail looked at her sharply, and Linda said, "Sorry, but that's what he said."

But Sam was looking at her speculatively. "Why would Mark tell Luke that?" he asked, his eyes narrowing. "What would Luke care?" Sam looked at Cas. "It's almost like..."

Cas's eyes widened. "He knows. He knows that this is how we've been getting our information. He's sending me a message. He's telling me to stop now, or else."

"You're not going to, are you?" Linda asked him.

Cas swallowed, hard. "No. Of course not. We can't stop now. Hopefully, he's just bluffing." But he had the sinking feeling that Lucifer was telling the truth. God help them all.

"Anyway, I've got more bad news," Linda went on. "Luke laughed and said he didn't know what Lucifer was worried about. He said the last Tablet would be impossible to get. And even if by some miracle, you guys did get it, that it wouldn't be the end. That there was one more thing you would have to get. And then he clammed up again. It looked like he thought he'd said too much."

Cas sighed. "Did he by any chance tell you why the last Tablet would be so impossible to get?" Cas asked her wearily. "Or, better still, where it is?"

"You're not going to believe this," Linda said with a half-smile. "I even asked him if he was putting me on, because it seemed so far-fetched. It's in Area 51."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Sam exclaimed excitedly. "Really? Area 51? Top-secret military installation? Alien autopsy? THAT Area 51?"

"Do you know of another one?" Linda said dryly. "What do you expect? It's the Netherworld Tablet, right? The last and most mysterious realm. Of course it would be in a top secret and mysterious place. Oh, and before you get too excited, Cas, he said that the Tablet is warded against all otherworldly beings. Angels, Demons, you name it. So if you're going to try to get in there, you'll have to do it the human way."

"Luke is right. That IS impossible," Sam said, dazed. "The military has that place on total lockdown. I've heard that if you even pull over to the side of the road within five miles of the compound, some serious-faced guys show up with some serious-ass weapons. And I don't think they bother to ask too many questions, first."

"Do you think it's true that even if you get the last Tablet, there's still one more item you'll have to get?" Linda asked Cas, and he nodded absently. Linda wouldn't know about Gail's conversation with Death, of course, where he'd confirmed that very fact. But Cas's mind was racing now. How were they supposed to accomplish this? "Why the hell didn't anybody tell ME about that?" Linda said irritably. "So, even after you get the last Tablet, I still have to kowtow to that guy? And, how did you guys find out, when I didn't even know?"

Gail liked Linda, but she was becoming a little annoyed with her now, too. It wasn't fair of her to be badgering Cas like that. She could see by the look on his face that he had been very disturbed by what Lucifer had said through Luke. Cas was the type of person who would feel responsible for each and every death that Lucifer caused, even though none of that would be his fault. What the hell were they supposed to do? Of course they couldn't just give up.

"Death told me," Gail said bluntly, and both Quinn and Linda gasped. Gail saw that she had Linda's attention now, so she went on: "Lucifer made me commit suicide, and I had a conversation with Death. Then we went to Romania and I was systematically fed on by a vampire and kidnapped by the King of Hell. So how was your week, Linda? Pour a lot of tea for Luke, did we?"

Cas looked at his wife, started. For an instant there, she'd sounded eerily like his Brother. But, Gail was right; she had had a very tough week, and Linda needed to calm down.

"I'm sorry, Gail," Linda said in a more subdued tone. "You're right. Sometimes I lose sight of how tough these missions must be to carry out."

Quinn was gaping at Gail. She'd also had no idea. These Angels and humans would come to her door, get information from the veil, and then leave on their divine missions. In-between, Quinn would go about her daily routine, telling innocuous fortunes and communing with ordinary spirits, until they came back again. She'd had no idea what was actually involved in obtaining the Tablets. Whoever thought that being an Angel was peaceful and serene was clearly mistaken.

Cas was looking at Gail with compassion. Sometimes he forgot how new she still was to being an Angel, and how hard it must be, being married to him, with all of its attendant perils. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze and she smiled sadly.

"That's all I've got," Linda said quietly. "I'll go back and work on Luke for that other item. Meanwhile, you and Cas take care of each other the best you can, OK, Gail?"

"Will do, Linda," Gail said, and her tone was milder now, too. "I'm sorry I snapped at you. I'm just a bit worn out."

Linda could only imagine, based on what she'd just heard that Gail had been through recently. "Cheer up," she quipped. "If Luke doesn't tell me what we need to know, maybe I'll just poison his tea. Or, if Cas can send me Crowley, I'll poison HIS. I'm sure we'd all like to see that."

That got a smile out of Gail, but she did look very tired to Linda now, so Linda said her goodbyes and then faded away.

A split second later, Oliver reappeared. "You need to give Gail my journal," he said to Quinn. "I tried to communicate that to you using the fridge magnets, but I'm just learning this whole spirit world thing from this end, so I guess I wasn't clear enough."

Now it was Cas who was angry. Gail had been through so much lately, and things were about to get much worse. He had no doubt that Lucifer meant to carry through on his threats. God only knew what they would be forced to endure in the foreseeable future.

"What do you want with my wife, Oliver?" Cas said sharply. "We're dealing with a lot right now, and the last thing she needs is more problems."

"I'm trying to help her," Oliver said insistently.

"Hello, I'm actually in the room," Gail said irritably, and Sam smiled. She'd always hated that. "What about this journal, Oliver? Why do I need to read it?" Gail asked him now.

"I'm not exactly sure," he replied uneasily. "I heard a voice from the Void, telling me that she had to know the truth. That YOU had to know the truth, Gail," he hastily amended.

She sighed. "The truth about what?"

"I don't know," Oliver said. "That's all I do know. I guess that's why I'm still tied to this house. Someone is using me as a conduit, to communicate with you from the Void."

Great. That didn't sound creepy at all. "All right, Oliver," Gail said. "I'll take your journal. But I may not be able to look at it for a while. We have to deal with Lucifer, first. Everything else will have to wait."

"I understand that," he said, agitated. "But please, don't wait too long. The greatest Evil is yet to come."

"Oh, my God!" Gail exclaimed. She was fed up, now. "That's exactly what I don't need to hear right now! Okay, so then I'll ask you what you mean by that, and you'll say you're not sure. Then I'll ask you why you can't just tell me what's in your own damn journal, and you'll tell me you have no idea! Right? Am I in the ballpark, Oliver? I am SO done with this!"

She stood and stalked angrily out of the room. As soon as she had let go of Cas and Sam's hands, the connection was broken, and Oliver disappeared. He wasn't strong enough yet to be able to stay in the room without a full connection. As it was, he was barely able to manifest himself around the house. He thought that maybe it was the kind of thing where you had to practice and put in your time before you became proficient at it. But honestly, he'd had nothing further to add at that point, anyway. He'd been speaking the truth. One day, a while back, a disembodied voice had spoken to him from the Void and told Oliver that Gail needed to read his journal, because she and Castiel needed to be prepared for the greatest Evil, the one that was yet to come. And that had been it. Nothing else. Gail's point had been a valid one, though: why couldn't Oliver just tell her what was in the damn thing? And the answer was as simple as it was aggravating: he couldn't remember. Oliver couldn't recall one single thing he had written in that book.

Cas came rushing after Gail. She had stopped short in the front hallway of the house. She hadn't intended to really go anywhere, she had just wanted out of that room.

He didn't ask her how she was feeling, he merely took her in his arms. She appreciated that, because she needed the comfort. Besides, it would be very difficult to articulate what she was feeling right now. There was so much about the past few days that she had yet to process, and now she was being told that Lucifer was going to kill untold numbers of humans, they were expected to just waltz into Area 51 to get the Tablet that would set off the carnage, and that there was a greater Evil yet to come, and that it had something to do with her.

"It's too much, Cas," she said, and she started to cry.

He held her tightly, but he said nothing. What could he say? She was right. This was a heavy burden. He let her weep for a minute, and then she sniffled, making herself stop. She had needed the outlet, but there was no time for a self-pity party right now. Gail wasn't the only one who'd had a lot to deal with. Look at Bobby. Changed into a human by Lucifer, thrown out of Heaven, and now he was minus a toe. And Jody, who had a lump in her breast that everyone wanted her to see a doctor about. There was no way anything could be wrong with Jody; it would destroy Frank. To say nothing of little Robbie. And what about that poor kid, anyway? What a crappy life he had. He was a male version of Gail when she'd been his age, just before she and Frank had been forced to go on the run. But at least, it had been her choice to lead a solitary existence up until that point. Robbie's choices had been taken away from him, and that was really sad. And then, look at Barry and Tommy. They'd lost their home and they were living in someone else's place, being full-time babysitters and bottle-washers. She was sure they must be eager to get back home and live their lives. They'd wanted to get married, hadn't they? They too had had to sacrifice a great deal. Yet they never complained.

"OK, I'm done," she said to Cas, easing herself out of their embrace. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I won't fall apart on you, I promise. You need someone who will support you and stand beside you, not one more person to worry about, and feel responsible for. You have enough of that already."

Cas gave her a gentle smile. "You always support me, and you always stand beside me. But our Father has seen fit to give you such heavy burdens, Gail. He must feel you're strong enough to bear them."

"I once read that God never gives you more than you can handle," Gail said to him. She paused for a moment, then added, "That's b.s."

He looked at her for a moment, then he saw her lips twitching, and he laughed. Gail broke into a smile. She just couldn't help herself.

"Well, He gave you me, so you could be right about that," Cas said, nodding, and now she was the one to laugh.

He bent down and kissed her. Cas loved it when they were able to laugh together. It certainly beat crying together, although he had the sinking feeling that they'd be doing that as well, before this whole mess was done.

"It's good to see the two of you laughing," Sam said. He and Quinn had hung back, wanting to give them a moment. Sam felt for Gail, too. She'd had it very rough lately.

Quinn was watching Sam watch Gail. Her psychic ability had helped her to see that Sam had been in love with the female Angel for as long as he'd known her, even back to when she'd been a human. But she had fallen in love with and married Castiel, and Sam had made himself accept that. So even though he still loved Gail and a part of him always would, Sam was doing his best to step back and love her like a brother would.

Quinn could help Sam with that, she thought. Even though she'd felt murder when she had touched his arm earlier, Quinn had also picked up on a lot of Sam's very desirable qualities. He was sensitive and highly intelligent, and he had an infinite capacity to love. He just had yet to be matched up with the right woman. But she also knew that getting involved with a guy like Sam could be very complicated. He and his brother Dean were pretty much a package deal, and Sam's lifestyle was fraught with danger even apart from all of the challenges that the Angels brought to the table. But Quinn was emotionally invested already. She was beginning to care about all of these people a great deal.

Sam put his hand out for Quinn to shake. "Thank you for helping us, Quinn," he said. "But we'd better be on our way now. We have an impossible mission to plan." He smiled.

"Hold on," Quinn said. She went into the living room and got Oliver's journal from the bookcase, bringing it back to the foyer. She handed it to Gail, who opened it out of curiousity. She was startled to see all of the black marker lines.

"This thing's unreadable!" she exclaimed. "Somebody's redacted the crap out of it!"

"At first glance, it would appear so," Quinn said. "But if you look closely, you'll see that they did a really poor job of it. You can see that the text is still there, just underneath."

"Can I have a look at that?" Sam asked Gail. She handed it over. "Quinn's right," Sam commented. "You can just about make it out." He closed the book with a snap. "If you're willing, I can take this to a friend of mine and get the redaction removed. It'll take a little time, but I get the feeling that we might be a little busy for the next little while, anyway."

"Sure, Sam, that would be great," Gail told him.

Sam extended his hand again to Quinn, and after a moment's hesitation, she took it, making herself ignore the frightening pictures she got in her head.

"It was nice to see you again, Sam," Quinn said to him. "Maybe after all of this is over, you can bring Dean by for a reading, sometime."

He laughed. "I don't think that's very likely," he said. "No offense, but my brother is more...pragmatic when it comes to those kinds of things."

Quinn's face fell a little. Was this Sam's way of giving her the brush-off?

"But I assume you eat," Sam continued, "and Dean does like to do that. So maybe I could call you and we can all go for dinner sometime. Then again, maybe we'll just leave Dean at home. His table manners are terrible, anyway."

"Preach," Gail said, grinning. "If I had a nickel for every time we've told that guy to swallow his food before he talks, I'd be a rich woman." She came forward to where Quinn stood, looking up at her and Sam with interest. Gail could definitely picture these two as a couple, and the idea pleased her. Sam deserved someone to love, and someone who loved him.

"Thank you, Quinn," Cas said to the psychic. He moved forward to claim Gail's hand. "We'd better go now."

Quinn watched the three of them leave, saying a quick prayer that they would keep safe, and that their mission would be a success.

As soon as Cas and Gail winked Sam back to the bunker, he yawned widely. "I'd better get a few hours' sleep," he told them. "Are you guys gonna be here, or at your place?"

"We'll go to our house for a bit," Cas told him. "I want Gail to rest, also. I'll ask Tommy to begin his research, and we'll see all of you later on."

Sam waved Oliver's journal, which he still held in his hand. "I'll see if I can get this to my guy before we leave for Nevada," he said to them.

"Why does it not surprise me that you have a guy?" Gail said, smiling.

Sam grinned. "I do have a lot of contacts. Too bad I don't have anybody in the military, though. We're gonna need all the help we can get." Then he yawned again and walked down the hall towards his room.

Cas and Gail turned to look at Tommy, who was waiting expectantly at his laptop. "So, where are you off to next?" he asked them.

"You're not going to believe it when we tell you," Cas said to him. He smiled at Gail. "Do you want to tell him?"

"So he can yell at me? No, thanks," she responded. "It's all yours."

"Considering what the last one entailed, how bad can it be?" Tommy asked them. "Come on, Cas. Give."

"Area 51," Cas told him.

Tommy's jaw dropped. "You have got to be kidding me."

"I'm afraid I'm not," Cas replied.

Tommy sat back in his chair, looking dazed. "Wow. You sure don't make it easy on yourselves, do you?"

Cas smiled grimly. "What fun would that be?" he quipped.

Tommy let out a long breath. "OK, Cas. I'll do what I can. Leave it with me."

"We're going to go to our house for a little while, to give everyone a chance to rest. We'll see you in a few hours, all right?" Cas said.

"Sure, Cas," Tommy replied distractedly. He was already thinking about how many favours he would have to call in to get the kind of information they would need to breach one of the most secure places on the planet. The short answer? All of them. He might really have to baffle and b.s. his way through this one. But they were so close to the end now, and Tommy couldn't let them down. "I'll see you," he said, starting to type away.

Cas picked up his and Gail's bags from the floor, where they'd dropped them upon returning from Romania. Then Gail tucked her hand in the crook of his arm and they popped over to their house. He set the bags down in the living room. "Don't even think about it," he said sternly, as Gail moved towards the bags. "I want you in that bed, right now."

She knew what he meant, but Gail couldn't resist. She put her arms around his neck, smiling. "I'm so glad to hear you say that," she said, raising an eyebrow to him.

Cas was puzzled for a moment, and then he realized what that had sounded like. He started to smile. "You know what I meant," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Although, once you've rested for a couple of hours, we may want to talk about that, if you're up to it." Then he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom, laying her down gently on the bed.

"Would you like me to help you change into a nightshirt?" Cas asked her. He didn't wait for an answer; he was already lifting her top off over her head. She let him continue to undress her for another minute, and then she said, "Cas, you're killing me. Please come and lay down beside me."

"But you need to rest," he protested. But he wasn't exactly being vociferous about it, and with every garment he removed, his hands were lingering longer and longer on her body.

"I'll rest afterwards," Gail told him. "But you're being way too sexy right now. Please kiss me, Cas."

He gave up. He leaned down to kiss her, and when she gave him her tongue immediately, he made a low noise in his throat.

"I love you, Cas," she said softly. He was unbuttoning his shirt now. Then he lay on top of her, enjoying the feel of her soft skin against his chest. She touched him through his pants, and he moaned.

"My love," he said, kissing her again. Then he took off the rest of their clothes and slipped into her, moving slowly in and out of her.

"My husband," she said, kissing his cheek softly.

"My wife," he responded, smiling again. His body's motion sped up as his excitement grew.

"You're the whole world to me," Gail told him, whimpering now.

"I love you so much," Cas replied. "You're the reason for my existence." He was whimpering now too, pushing forward into her. He pulled her head toward his and kissed her on the mouth. Then he groaned, and then he was still.

He took a couple of deep breaths, and then laid her back on the pillows. Then his head was between her legs, and she was shouting out his name.

Cas pulled the covers over them both afterwards, taking her in his arms.

"I need to talk to you about a few things," Gail told him, once she got her breath back.

"I thought you might," Cas said quietly. "What do you want to talk about first?"

"What do you think Crowley was talking about?" she asked him. "Just before I pushed him out of the castle, he made a couple of very mysterious comments."

Cas frowned. "I was wondering about that, too. He knows more than he's telling. I'm sure of it." He looked down at her face. "You know, we never did establish exactly why he kidnapped you and Frank to begin with, did we?"

"I thought about that, too!" she exclaimed. She sat up excitedly. "There's something fishy going on, Cas. I think he might know something about my real parents!"

Cas was stunned, but he had to admit that was exactly what it seemed like. They should have known that there was more to the situation then met the eye. Why on earth would the King of Hell have been so interested in acquiring a young human girl? Granted, she'd had powers that were unusual for a human to have, but still...

"We'll have to have a very honest conversation with him after all of this is over," Cas said to her. "Now please, lay down and rest. Here, put your head on my chest. Please, Gail."

She lay back down and put her head on him as he had requested, but her mind was racing. "You know, I'm not even sure if I'm all that interested in knowing who my real parents are, Cas," she said to him. "I'm an adult now. Does it really matter?"

"That'll be up to you to decide," he replied softly. "Why don't we talk about it some more, once Lucifer is dealt with?"

She nodded, and they were silent for a moment. Then he said, "I'm very sorry I wasn't there for you, when you needed me. I thought I could save everyone, and I ended up saving no one. Crowley was right."

"No, he wasn't, Cas!" she said, raising her voice. "All he ever does is put you down. You tried the best you could. I think it's very noble that you tried to save those people. The needs of the many, right?" She looked up at his face, but he had no reaction, so she continued: "But, you know what? The one thing he WAS right about, the ONLY thing he was right about, is that I've got to quit being such a damsel in distress all the time! I want to resume training, Cas, and I want you to show me how to use some of those other weapons. If Lucifer is going to wreak havoc on the Earth, I want to be able to fight, Cas. Not only do I want to be able to defend myself, and all of us, but I want to help humans, too."

His heart swelled with love for her. Even though he hated the thought of her being in danger, she was right. She was his equal partner, and he shouldn't treat her with kid gloves any more. He didn't have the luxury. That time had passed. And he loved the fact that she wanted to help the humans, just as he did. If Lucifer followed through on his threats, they would need all the soldiers they could get.

"All right, Gail," he told her.

She was a little surprised by his quick acquiescence, and her heart sank a little. Just the fact that Cas had given in so easily on the point signaled to her his level of concern.

"But on the bright side," she told him, "if you can call being abducted by the King of Hell the bright side, Crowley confirmed to me that the whole Demon thing was a lie."

"He did?" Castiel asked her. He was surprised. "How did that come up?"

Gail opened her mouth to tell him, and then she snapped it shut again. She'd better be very careful, here. She had been enraged when she'd found out that Crowley had apparently more or less molested her, when he had modified her memory and abducted her to Hell's answer to a fantasy suite. So, that was where she had gotten that from. Just like the needles. She obviously had some kind of source memories about those events, and when she and Cas had had their Demon delusions, these memories had manifested themselves into twisted and warped versions of the truth. But if she told Cas that what Crowley said had really happened, he would be livid. Him threatening to kill his Brother was a fairly routine occurrence in their family, but if Cas found out about this, he might very well lose it enough to actually do it. When Cas had thought that Crowley had touched her in an intimate manner because Demon Cas had requested it, he'd shouldered the responsibility and, in effect, turned the other cheek. But if he were to learn that the King of Hell had insinuated himself upon Gail when she'd been incapacitated? Gail didn't think that would be a good idea. Although a large part of her would love to see what that conversation would look like, she realized that they may need Crowley and his powers before all was said and done. Just as there was no honour among thieves, she was pretty sure that Crowley and Lucifer's alliance wouldn't last. Soon they would turn on each other like two rabid dogs, and Crowley would be forced to come back to the Angels for their help. So she had better keep her trap shut, and hope that Cas wouldn't figure it out, as she had. This was probably going to come back and bite her in the ass, but she had to think of the greater good right now.

She changed the subject, telling him instead how she had associated Demon Cas with the needles, when it had really been Crowley who had injected her, when he had been Sly. "I'm so sorry, sweetie," she said to her husband. "I should have known you would never do anything like that to me. I'm ashamed I even thought that."

"Don't be," he replied. "I thought it was me, also. That's the problem with such a pervasive modification. You don't know what is true, and what is an illusion. I laboured under similar delusions. I believed that I had killed Alexander and Xavier, and that I had tortured Xavier, then sent him to Hell. Just as you had your so-called memories, I had mine. Too often, during the Angel Wars, I tortured souls to get information out of them, without any real regard for what was right and what was wrong. The lines were extremely blurred in those days, but that's no excuse. I behaved reprehensibly in so many ways, and I feel shame about it. It was all too easy for me to believe that I was a monster with you, because I had been such a monster before."

Gail said nothing. He was opening up to her now, and she knew what a cathartic experience that could be. So she just snuggled up closer to him, and he gave her a gentle squeeze.

"When the Rom woman said that it's in my nature to be violent, she hit a sore spot," Castiel continued. "She's not wrong, but ever since I met you, I've been trying not to give in to that impulse. I don't want our lives to be like that, Gail. And yet, I've had to do so many violent things on the way to getting those Tablets. And I know I'll have to do more. I think I Demonized myself because on some levels, I feel like a Demon."

Now she raised herself up on one elbow to look at him. She touched his face, and he took her hand automatically and kissed it. "I did the same thing, Cas," she told him. "You heard what Crowley said about me, that I wasn't Angel material? A part of me has always believed that. I never believed I was good enough to be an Angel, and I never believed I was good enough for you."

He gave her a faint smile. "I don't know why you would ever think that," he told her. "It's more like it should be the other way around."

"And I just realized that you were talking about you, and now I'm talking about me," Gail said, frowning. "I'm sorry, sweetie. That was selfish of me."

"No," he said quickly. "No, it wasn't. I am you, and you are me."

"Sounds like a Beatles song," she quipped.

Cas smiled again. "I simply meant that we are one now, and we should feel free to share every feeling we have with each other."

"Well, right now, I can think of one particular feeling I'd like for us to share," she said mischievously. She was lightly caressing his chest now.

"You're supposed to be resting," Cas said to her. But even as he was saying that, he was already starting to caress her in return.

"I've just been laying here," she responded. Her hand had moved to his stomach now.

"I suppose that's true," he acknowledged. Now his hand was on her thighs, and she was opening her legs for him.

"Of course it's tru...ooh," she breathed. His fingers had found the right spot.

Cas smiled, and an instant later, he felt her hand close around him. He sped up his motion, and so did she, and his mouth came down on hers. Their tongues came together, but then, when the feeling got too good, they broke the kiss so that they could tell each other how good it was.

"I love you, Cas!" she exclaimed, moving against his hand.

All he could say was her name, over and over again. His eyes were closed and he was lost in the feeling of loving her, and of having her love him.

When his heart rate slowed down and her breathing returned to normal, Cas said, "Now, I want you to rest. Really. And just to show you that I really mean it, I'm going to put a nightshirt on you, and turn on the TV for a while."

"You realize that nightshirts can come off, right?" she teased him.

He smiled. "Really? I didn't know that," he answered in kind. "That's good to know. But I mean it this time, Gail. I want you to rest for a while. You're starting to look pale again."

"OK, Cas," she agreed without any further protest.

He rose from the bed and took a nightshirt out of the bureau. Then he put a pair of shorts on himself. "There," he said to her, returning to the bed and putting the nightshirt on over her head. He helped her put her arms through the sleeves. She was grinning now, looking at him.

"You realize that those can come off too, right?" she said, indicating his shorts with a nod of her head.

He was smiling, too. "Do you want me to go into the living room?" he asked her.

"Do you WANT to go into the living room?" she countered.

"No," he said, shaking his head.

"Good," she replied, "'cause I don't want you to, either. OK, I'll behave. For now."

Cas laughed. He maneuvered her into their favourite cuddling position and then he switched on the TV.

Tommy had been working feverishly at his computer ever since the Angels had left the bunker, and now, he was working the phones. But everywhere he tried, he was coming up empty.

"Come on, Tommy," he muttered to himself. "Think. How do we get Top Secret credentials for those guys? Only extremely high-ranking officials can authorize something like that." And then, he had it. It was sleazy and underhanded, but, desperate times and all that, he thought.

He checked his Contacts list. The name and number was still there, thank God. He had almost deleted it a number of times. As it was, Tommy was going to have to have a little chat with Barry about this, if this lead turned out to have promise.

He called the number. "Hello?" Wyatt answered.

"Wyatt, how are you?"

"Tommy?" the man said. Tommy could hear the surprise in his voice. Not that he could blame Wyatt. They'd broken up nearly ten years ago.

"Yeah, it's me," Tommy told his ex-boyfriend. "I need a huge favour."

"Really?" Wyatt said slyly. "Does Barry know about this?"

"Not funny, Wyatt," Tommy said sharply.

"Sorry," Wyatt said unconvincingly. "What are you looking for?"

"Do you still...see some of those guys from the base?" Tommy inquired.

Wyatt laughed shortly. "That's a delicate way of putting it. Yeah, some of them come down to the Strip to see my act, and once in a while, one or two of those gentlemen might come up to my room for a little party. Why? Are you a cop, now?"

"Wyatt, this is serious," Tommy said grimly. "I need bogus Army credentials for three men and a woman. And they need to be Top Secret clearance."

Wyatt laughed. "Hold the line, and I'll see if I have a unicorn and the Loch Ness monster in my purse, while we're at it. What are you trying to pull, Tommy? Going undercover for the paper, maybe? Looking to do an expose on the military? I'll save you the trouble: 'Don't ask, don't tell' has been revised to 'I won't tell on you, if you don't tell on me'."

Tommy sighed. "I know you like to play around, Wyatt, but this is serious crap I'm talking about, here."

Wyatt's forehead wrinkled, but then he made himself smooth it out. The shelf life of a Vegas headliner was brief, and the last thing he needed was more wrinkles to have to cover up. "How serious is it, Tommy?" he asked.

"DefCon Maximum," his ex-boyfriend replied. "Armageddon serious, Wyatt."

Wyatt paled. He knew Tommy very well, and he could tell he wasn't joking. "Is it terrorism?" he asked in a hushed voice.

Tommy smiled to himself. Wyatt was such a drama queen. Pun definitely intended, in this instance. That was one reason why they had broken up. Wyatt always took everything to the max. When Tommy had been younger and hard-drinking, he had found Wyatt's theatrics exciting. But the act had worn thin, and when Tommy had made Barry's acquaintance, he'd told Wyatt he was moving out. Because Wyatt was who he was, he had reacted by going off the deep end. He had immersed himself into the club scene, drinking and using drugs. Then he had moved to Las Vegas. Tommy had kept in touch every now and then, just to make sure Wyatt hadn't killed himself. If anyone had the potential to try it, as a grand attention-getting gesture, it was his ex-boyfriend. But after a brief period of self-destructive behaviour, Wyatt's equilibrium seemed to return. He had a good singing voice and an aptitude for mimicry, and he had parlayed those talents into a career as a female impersonator. Early on in his relationship with Barry, Tommy had stopped by Vegas to see Wyatt's show when he was on the road for the paper. The act had been raw and unpolished, but Wyatt's talent was undeniable. Tommy had bought Wyatt a drink after the show and advised him to get an agent, and things had taken off from there. Now Wyatt was a headliner, and even though Tommy suspected his ex might still be more promiscuous than he should be, considering the dangers out there, it was really none of Tommy's business any more.

"I can't say," Tommy said in reply to Wyatt's question. "But just know that if you help the people I'm sending, you'll be helping to save countless lives."

Wyatt was intrigued. This sounded like an episode of Homeland, or something. He had a room full of wigs; he could definitely play Clare Danes. But Wyatt knew what his actual role would be, and what Tommy was asking him to do.

"Please, Wyatt," Tommy continued in a quiet voice. "I wouldn't ask you if it wasn't really important."

"How's Barry?" Wyatt asked suddenly. "Are you two still disgustingly in love?"

Tommy grinned. In that instant, he felt like Cas. "Yeah, we are, Wyatt. We're very happy together."

"Does he know you're calling me?" Wyatt persisted.

"No, but he will," Tommy responded. "As soon as we get off the phone, I'm going to tell him." Barry was not going to be pleased, Tommy knew. After Tommy had admitted to Barry that he had gone to Wyatt's show in Las Vegas, they'd had a fight about it. Their first real fight. Barry'd gotten it in his head that Tommy and Wyatt had gone to bed together on that occasion, and even though Tommy had denied it and they'd made up afterwards, the mere mention of Wyatt's name was enough to make Barry angry. But Tommy had been telling the truth. He and Wyatt had had a few too many that night, it was true, but when he'd felt Wyatt's hand slide up his thigh underneath the table, Tommy had gotten up, thrown some money on the table, and left.

"Are you going to help me, or not?" Tommy asked Wyatt now.

"Of course I'll help you," his ex confirmed, "but it's going to take a little time, and a lot of finesse. I have a couple of guys on the string, but there's only one guy I know of who's high enough on the food chain to give you what you need. But first, I'm going to have to give him what he needs, if you know what I mean."

Tommy rolled his eyes. "I always know what you mean, Wyatt."

His ex laughed, and the men talked logistics for a few more minutes. Then Tommy ended the call. He drummed his fingers on the table for a minute, looking at the hallway that led down to the kitchen. Last Tommy had seen, Barry was down there, cooking up a storm. He was excited to have everybody back, even if it would likely just be for a day or so, and he'd wanted them to have a good, home-cooked meal before they had to hit the road again.

Tommy should really get up and go talk to Barry, before he did anything else. So of course, he snatched up his cell phone and called Cas instead.

Cas and Gail had been watching TV for a while now. Or, more accurately, Cas was watching. Gail had closed her eyes. She was glad now that Cas had insisted she rest for a while. She could feel her metaphorical batteries recharging. He had been quietly watching TV ever since he'd switched it on, pausing only to change the channel once in a while, or to give her the occasional soft kiss.

Gail sighed contentedly. This was it, right here. No matter how many ordeals they had been through, as long as they were able to do this together when they got back home, she could handle anything, she told herself.

When she felt completely refreshed, she said, "When did you want to go to the bunker?"

"That depends," he replied. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel wonderful now," she answered. She stretched her body to its full length, like a cat laying in a sunbeam. Then she sat up and turned around, facing him. "Thanks for this," she said to him. "It was just what I needed."

"Me, too," Cas told her. "We don't get enough chances to cuddle. We'll have to make that a priority, after these missions are over, and we have more time to spend together like this."

"Agreed," Gail said, smiling. She kissed him on the lips. "Sooo...when did you want to go to the bunker, exactly?"

He put his arms around her, pulling her closer. "How does an hour sound?" he said. Then he kissed her, opening her mouth with his tongue.

"Not nearly long enough," she quipped. "But I'll take what I can get." She straddled him, and he pulled her nightshirt off over her head.

"What do you know?" Cas said, smiling. "You were right. It comes right off."

Gail laughed. "Have I told you lately how cute you are?"

Cas pretended to frown. "No, and I've been meaning to speak to you about that."

She laughed again. "Okay, now you're starting to sound stern. I kind of like that too, sometimes," she said teasingly.

"Can a person be cute and stern at the same time?" he asked her, smiling gently. His hands were caressing her body now, and she could feel by sitting on his lap that he was getting excited.

"You always have been," she told him pertly. She looked down. "Do you want to see if the other part of my hypothesis is true?" She grabbed the waistband of his shorts.

Cas raised his hips, allowing her to slide his underwear down. It was kind of sexy having Gail undress him, for a change of pace.

Once she removed his shorts and dropped them on the floor, she positioned herself on top of him and they began to move together. His hands were on her hips, and he was moving her up and down. Then she leaned down and wrapped herself around his torso. This excited him even further, and he pushed forward, hard. She cried out, and so did he, a moment later.

"That was good, Cas," she murmured.

"I believe I said an hour," he said, smiling. He lifted her body up by her hips and positioned her by his mouth. She could feel his lips and tongue on her. She grabbed the headboard to steady herself and she cried out his name as the waves of pleasure washed over her.

They cuddled for another fifteen minutes or so, and Cas had been about to suggest that he should shower when Tommy called.

"Hey, Cas. I think I may have found a way," Tommy told him.

"That's great, Tommy!" Cas enthused, but Tommy interrupted him. "Before you get all excited, though, my contact needs a little time to get the four of you the kind of credentials you'll need to get into a place like this."

"And how is that being done, Tommy?" Cas asked, impressed.

Tommy grinned briefly. "Trust me, you do not want to know, Cas. The less you know about it, the better you'll feel."

Cas's forehead wrinkled, but he did not question Tommy further. He knew that reporters frequently had sources and connections that they did not want to divulge.

"Anyway," Tommy continued, "my connection suggests that you take your time getting there. It's probably going to take him a couple of weeks to get us what we need."

"A couple of weeks?!" Cas exclaimed.

Tommy frowned. "Yeah, Cas. Look, I know you Angels are used to just popping in and out of everywhere. But we humans are bound by worldly laws, not otherworldly ones. So if you need to do this the human way, it'll take a bit of time."

"I'm sorry, Tommy, you're right," Cas apologized. "We appreciate everything you do for us. I know we don't tell you that enough."

Tommy felt a flush creep to his cheeks. He loved it when Cas complimented him. If Wyatt had been Cas back in the day, Tommy was pretty sure he wouldn't be sitting here in this bunker right now. But then he chided himself. Cas was undeniably straight, and crazy in love with his wife, and Tommy was in love with Barry. Still, he was only human, and a harmless fantasy was normal every now and then. Tommy knew that Barry had fantasized about Cas once or twice too, and it didn't really bother him. They were all adults, after all, and it was only in their minds.

"Thanks, Cas," he said with a smile. "I'll get whatever information I can about the place and put on a presentation when everyone gets up. But I've got to warn you, it'll be a little thin. Area 51 is the most secret location in America, maybe even in the world. There aren't even any pictures of it on the Internet."

Cas pursed his lips. That figured. This was the Netherworld Tablet they were trying to get, after all. The fact that it was in a mysterious, hard-to-access location did not surprise him. "OK, Tommy. We'll be there in just a little while."

He hung up the phone and tossed it on the nightstand, explaining what Tommy had said. Gail lay back against the pillows, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"What is it, my love?" he asked her.

"If we have to take our time, we'll probably drive. And we'll be going west from here, right?" Gail asked him.

Cas thought about it. "Yes, I don't see any reason why not," he replied. Then he smiled. "I'm sure Dean will be very happy about that. Frank, too. They haven't had an opportunity to drive their own cars in quite a while. Perhaps we should buy a car, also. I know it seems silly, in a way. But if we're going to go on a road trip with our human friends, maybe we should have our own transportation. Then you can play whatever music you like on our radio."

Now Gail was smiling, too. "You're talking my language," she said to him. She remembered, when she and Cas had driven up to Vancouver, how much she had enjoyed listening to pop music in the car. Dean forbade it in Baby, but Cas had no such restriction.

"Then it's settled," Cas said. "We've got quite a bit of money left over from your jackpot. Maybe we'll ask Dean and Frank if they want to go car shopping with us tomorrow morning. I would hate for us to buy a lemon." His lips twitched.

Gail nodded. "You're right about that. They'd never let us hear the end of it. OK, it's a date. But I was going to ask you: do you think that we could plan a trip to Nevada that goes through Denver?"

Cas's brow furrowed. "I suppose so. May I ask why?"

"I'm getting one of my feelings, Cas," she told him. "There's a house I want to stop by and see, there. I'm pretty sure Frank would like to see it, too. It's the house we grew up in, Cas."

He was surprised. He'd never really thought about that, not since he and Gail had first met. So, she and Frank had grown up in Denver. "Of course we can see your house," he said softly. "But are you sure it wouldn't upset you too much?"

Gail kissed him on the cheek. "A couple of years ago, I might have thought so. But considering all the stuff we've been through lately, I think I can handle it now."

"Well, you'll have us with you for support," Cas assured her. "And so will Frank, if he needs it."

She threw her arms around his neck and gave him a big hug. "Thank you, sweetie," she said. "I love you, so much."

Cas gave her a squeeze. "Why, I love you too, my darling," he said, pleased.

She came out of the embrace. "Oh, I like that, Cas," she told him. "I think we'll have to add that to your repertoire."

He smiled. "I can do that. And there are a few more things I'd like to add to our repertoire. However, I think they had better wait. If we're going to go to the bunker, I need for you to get dressed, please."

Gail nodded. He was right. She gave him one more quick kiss and headed off to the shower.

Frank and Jody were getting dressed in their room at the bunker, and they were arguing.

"Why did you tell Gail about my...situation?" Jody asked her husband angrily.

"I don't know," he said uncomfortably. "She's my sister."

Jody let out a frustrated breath. Since when did Frank get all touchy-feely about his sister? She knew he loved Gail a lot, but he and Gail didn't generally sit down over flavoured coffees and talk about their feelings.

"You know how private I am about those kinds of things, Frank," Jody told him quietly. "If you've told her, I'm sure Cas knows by now, and I just don't want Robbie hearing anything about anything. I know he's still pretty young, but he's growing up fast. And sometimes, he knows things he really shouldn't know. When we got back, he asked me if you really killed that bad vampire at the hotel."

Frank was startled for a moment, but then he shrugged. "He must have heard about that from one of the other guys."

"We had just gotten home, Frank. I'm the first person he talked to," Jody pointed out.

Frank frowned. OK, that WAS odd. Had the boy just imagined that they had killed a vampire, because of where they'd been? They'd all joked about it quite a bit before they'd left, and Frank had been one of the worst offenders.

"You're changing the subject," he told his wife. "I want to know when you're gonna go to the doctor about that lump."

"Let's talk to Cas, first," Jody replied. She rolled her eyes. "Since he undoubtedly knows about it, anyway. Depending on what he tells us about this last Tablet, we'll work around it. I'm sure it's nothing, Frank, but if it'll shut you up, I'm willing to go right away." But then she smiled. "I really love how much you care about my well-being," she told her husband.

Frank put his arms around her. "Hey, Cas isn't the only one around here who loves his wife, you know," he told her softly.

They kissed for a minute, and then Jody said, "Let's go see our son."

Robbie was putting the finishing touches on his story. It was an exciting tale about how his Mom and Dad and Aunts and Uncles fought the monsters in Romania. And it was climaxed by the moment when his Dad pulled out the sword and chopped off the head of the evil vampire who'd been menacing his Aunt Gail. No one had told Robbie about what had happened in Romania; he had just known. He could picture certain things in his head, and whenever he touched someone who was part of the vision, it became stronger. He had already known about the events that his story was based on, but when Robbie had hugged his Mom, he had seen a couple of other things, too. He had seen her killing a Demon and throwing a knife at the King of Hell. And he had also seen her standing in a brightly lit room, looking nervously at a weird metal machine. Somehow, the images all seemed connected in Robbie's mind; he just wasn't sure how.

He'd been getting some other feelings too, and he'd had some thoughts which were disturbing to him. Lately, Robbie had seriously begun to wonder if he was going crazy. Either that, or he was getting so carried away with his imagination that he was just seeing things. Maybe he should talk to his Dad about it. Some of the things he saw were good, but most were not. Robbie could see all of them at Aunt Gail and Uncle Cas's house, spending Christmas together. If he wanted to, Robbie knew that he would be capable of looking into all the packages under the tree and seeing what they were, but he didn't want to do that. In a moment of maturity that was rare for a child of his age when it came to such things, Robbie realized that it would be very important to all of the adults to leave these things a mystery. It wasn't that long from now, in the scheme of things. He could wait.

They had all had a very hard year. Robbie himself had lost both of his parents, and he had been kidnapped by one of them and taken to Lucifer. He'd been teased with the promise of being able to go to school and make some friends, only to have the rug yanked from underneath him when it was decided that it was too unsafe to let him out into the world. But, on the plus side, Robbie had a bunch of people and Angels who loved him, and who were trying their very best to make the world safe again. Christmas was going to be great. There would be lots of food, and presents, and love, and fun. He also knew that his Dad Tommy was going to ask his Dad Barry to marry him, and everybody was going to go bananas. His Uncle Cas was going to be so excited, having another wedding to help plan. For a guy who was so scary to bad guys, Uncle Cas was such a wuss when it came to stuff like that. Not that Robbie would ever dare to say that to him, of course; not if he wanted to make it to puberty, anyway.

But Robbie saw a lot of dark things, too. He saw his Uncles Sam and Dean crying and hugging his Uncle Cas. Then Uncle Cas started crying, too. Uncle Dean was lifting a beer and toasting them with it. But on the other hand, that last part wasn't all that unusual. Robbie had never seen a guy drink so much beer in all his life. Yet, he had never seen Uncle Dean drunk. That was kind of funny, when you thought about it.

Robbie knew that Bobby wasn't God any more, but he still felt like he was his Grandpa. It was weird to think of him as being a human now. Just like Robbie's original Grandpa, Ignatius. His Mom's father had come to Earth to find them, and when he had, he had gone to Bobby and asked him to take his Grace from him. As far as Robbie was able to understand, that was the stuff that made an Angel an Angel. His Grandpa had told Bobby that he wanted to be a human, so Bobby had taken the stuff out of him, and it sat in a tube, locked up in Bobby's old office, waiting for its new owner.

There was a war on the horizon, and Robbie wished that he was older, so he could help them fight it. Lucifer was just waiting to see if they were going to heed his warning and stop. But they weren't going to stop, and neither was Lucifer, and it was the humans who were going to suffer. Robbie already knew where they were going, to try to find the next Tablet, and he would think it was pretty cool, if he wasn't worrying so much about how dangerous it was. His Dad had better not crack too many jokes. The military guys guarding those Top Secret places didn't spend a lot of time laughing.

There were a few ghosts that were hanging around, too, some of which were going to be very important to their future. Just like in the last book of the series about that boy wizard that his Aunt Gail liked. Robbie's Mom had started to read them to him when they had first moved into the bunker, and then she had been murdered. But Robbie somehow knew that in the last book, one of the ghosts in the castle gave the hero some very important information that helped him to defeat the main bad guy. Robbie knew that lots of people didn't believe in ghosts, but others did, but they thought they were all bad, and scary. And some of them were, of course. There were ghosts that his Uncles Dean and Sam would call "vengeful spirits". They were people who felt that they had been wronged in life, and they hung around after death to get their revenge. But then there were also the lost souls, those who had been killed suddenly. Tragically, usually. Those ghosts sometimes found themselves trapped between realms, unable to move on. Often, that was because they had some unfinished business on Earth. Those ghosts weren't scary, they were just sad. Robbie knew that there were a couple of those kinds of ghosts around, although what kinds of roles they would play in everyone's lives, he had no idea.

Robbie hoped his Uncle Chuck would be okay. Chuck felt bad because he had been bad, then good, then bad again. Uncle Chuck really, truly wanted to be a good guy, but he kept on backsliding. A lot of the things that Chuck was dealing with were too grown-up for Robbie to really understand, but Robbie hoped that he would be OK. Like Robbie, Uncle Chuck liked to write stories, and even though they hadn't spent a lot of time together lately, Robbie thought that if he got the chance, he would maybe talk to him. Let Chuck know that if he stayed on the right path, Robbie had seen that he would be a successful writer some day. Funny; Uncle Chuck was a Prophet, himself. But maybe Prophets couldn't see their own future. Robbie wasn't sure how these things worked, because he couldn't actually try to see things, like Uncle Chuck and Uncle Kevin could. Visions just popped into Robbie's head out of the blue, but he couldn't make them come. He'd sat down in his room a few times, closed his eyes, and concentrated, just like he'd heard them talk about. But Robbie obviously wasn't a Prophet, because he couldn't come up with anything, when he had tried to do that. No, it was more like he got these random flashes, or feelings. He'd heard his Aunt Gail talk about getting one of her feelings, once. Was it something like that, maybe?

He missed his Aunt Linda. They hadn't spent a lot of time together before Lucifer had killed her, but Robbie had liked her. She always said what was on her mind. Robbie knew that adults didn't always do that for a number of reasons, some of which were very complicated. He knew that his Aunt Linda wasn't exactly happy in the Netherworld, but she was trying to make the best of it. And who could blame her? Being cut off from all of your friends like that would really stink.

Robbie had been thinking about his Aunt Gail a lot lately, too. There was something going on with her, something that had to do with who her real parents were. Robbie knew that she and his Dad weren't really brother and sister, even though they had grown up together in the same house. Aunt Gail had been adopted by his Dad's parents, just like Robbie had been adopted by Felicia and Mark. So they had that in common, and he was starting to think that they may have more stuff in common than that. Maybe if she wasn't too busy hosting Christmas, Robbie would ask her what it felt like when she got one of her feelings. He knew she wasn't shy about communicating her intuitions to anybody, but then, she was older and more experienced than Robbie when it came to having them. So far, he hadn't confided in anyone about his. He guessed it was probably time to start talking about it, though. At least his loved ones would believe him, and they would likely understand.

Robbie was really worried about Lucifer, and what he was going to do next. The Devil was really mad at all of them for continuing to look for those Tablets, and right now, he was debating with himself about what might be the best way to stop them. Should he just kill Castiel outright? That would certainly put a damper on things, from the God Squad's point of view. There would be a lot of weeping and wailing about it; somewhat inexplicably, in Lucifer's opinion, Castiel had a lot of people who loved him. And poor Gail would be a wreck. She might even fall on her Angel blade, too grief-stricken to go on living without him. But recent events had demonstrated to Lucifer that just getting rid of those two would not be enough. The others had continued on, even when they'd thought that Castiel had deserted them. No, something on a much bigger scale was called for, here. But what? Robbie could picture Lucifer pacing the floor, thinking about these things, but the boy had no idea what the Devil was going to do. He wasn't a Prophet, he was just a young boy, and he was scared. Lucifer could do just about anything he wanted to, couldn't he? Robbie's Mom and Dad and Aunts and Uncles were the bravest people in the whole universe, standing up to him like they were.

Robbie supposed that his Grandpa God was just his Grandpa now, or maybe he would prefer it if Robbie called him Uncle Bobby. The boy knew that Bobby was human now, and he was starting to feel his age. Just like Robbie's Gramps Ignatius, Uncle Bobby walked around saying how much his body hurt. And now, he'd had to cut off his toe to save them all from the really bad monster at the castle, so he'd be in even more pain. Uncle Bobby acted grumpy all the time, but Robbie knew he loved them all. It just wasn't really in his nature to tell them so.

There was no God in Heaven right now, because Uncle Bobby had quit being God. Robbie didn't understand why, though. Who wouldn't want to be God? But he supposed it was one of those grownup things that he had yet to comprehend. Robbie knew he still had a lot to learn about being an adult. There was going to be an election in Heaven, but Robbie had no idea who was going to win.

And the worst thing of all was that Robbie was starting to get another feeling, and it was the scariest feeling of all. At least one of the members of the so-called God Squad was not going to live to see Lucifer put back in his cage.

He heard his Mom and Dad talking in the hallway, and he jumped off his chair so he could show them his story and spend some time with them before they had to leave again.

"Hey, kiddo," Frank said, tousling Robbie's hair. "I thought maybe you were asleep, too. You were suspiciously quiet."

"I don't yell that much anymore, Dad," Robbie told him. "I'm maturing. That's what Uncle Tommy said, anyway."

Frank and Jody exchanged amused glances. "Did he?" Jody said. "Well, do me a favour and don't grow up too quickly. Right now, you and your Dad are at about the same maturity level. You don't want to make him look bad, do you?" She smiled down at the boy.

Dean came out of his room. "Hey, what's all this talk about growing up?" he asked them. "Who's growing up?" He looked down at Robbie and twisted his face into a grotesque expression, and the boy laughed.

Jody rolled her eyes. "Not you, that's for sure."

Dean shrugged. "Where's the fun in that? Every time somebody tells me to act more grown up, it's because they want me to do something I don't want to do. How boring is that?"

"Dean? Is everyone up now?" Cas's voice, coming from the library area.

"Oh, listen, there's one of the worst offenders now," Dean smirked, nodding his head in the direction of Cas's voice. "Coming, Dad."

They all walked down the hall to the library area. Cas and Gail had just arrived, and Tommy was there too, just finishing up his notes for the presentation.

Cas's brow was furrowed. "Why are you calling me 'Dad'?" he asked Dean.

"Because you can be a major buzzkill, sometimes," Dean replied.

Cas was still puzzled. "I thought I was 'Captain Obvious'," he half-joked.

"You obviously got a promotion," Gail said dryly. "I'm so proud." She pointed her finger at Dean. "But if you ever call me Mrs. Buzzkill, I'll have to kick your ass."

"'Mrs. Buzzkill'," Frank remarked with a grin. "That's actually pretty funny."

"I have powers, and I've had a chance to recharge my batteries," Gail retorted cheerfully. "How about we have a two-for-one sale?"

"You could call it BOGO," Sam said. He was emerging from the hallway, stretching and yawning. "Beat One, Gouge One."

Gail laughed. "OK, that wasn't bad."

Riley and Ethan had been playing a video game in the living room area, but as soon as Cas showed up, Riley dropped his controller on the coffee table and rushed over to where Cas was standing.

"Congratulations on getting the latest Tablet," Riley said to him. "Maybe, while the humans are eating, you can tell us about your adventures in Romania. I'll bet it was exciting."

Cas felt a flash of temper. "First of all, they are not 'the humans', they are our friends. And secondly, it was a difficult mission. Much blood was shed, and a very kind woman was murdered, for no other reason than spite. These are not movies, nor are they your video games."

Riley's face fell. Castiel was right. "I'm sorry, Sir," he said in a subdued tone.

They were all silent for a moment, then Dean piped up, "And...Major Buzzkill strikes again. Come on, Cas, lighten up. Have a beer, or something."

Gail looked at Cas. She knew where he'd been coming from, but he seemed oblivious to the fact that Riley had a serious case of hero worship, so he might not be aware of the effect that his words might have on the young Angel. "It WAS a very difficult mission, and a very nice lady was killed," Gail agreed. She looked at Riley when she'd said that, but then she put her hand on Cas's arm and looked at her husband again. "Having said that, it's over now, and I'm looking forward to a nice evening with all of our friends, both Angel and human. It smells like Barry is cooking something really good, and even though we don't eat, I'd like to suggest that those of us who do bring their plates out here. We can all sit around the big table and talk, and then Tommy can show us whatever he's got about our next destination after dinner is over."

She put her hand on Riley's arm, then. "Come on, Riley. You can buy Mrs. Buzzkill a drink." Everyone laughed as Gail steered young Riley towards the hallway. Even Cas had to smile. He got her message. He was behaving like an old fuddy-duddy. Riley was very young, and he'd had no field experience. Of course he would regard their exploits as an adventure. Actually, that gave him an idea. Since Tommy had advised that they would need to take their time getting to Nevada, perhaps they could hold back here for a day or two. That would give their human friends a chance to gain a bit more rest. Cas and Gail and whoever else wanted to come along could buy their car, Jody could see her doctor, Bobby could get a bit more recuperation time with his foot, and Cas could set up a refresher training session. If Riley wanted to begin combat training, Castiel was more than willing to work with him, and Gail had mentioned that she wanted some more practice, too. This delay could actually be a blessing in disguise.

Paul lowered his weapons. His arms were getting tired, and it was becoming obvious to him that there would be no stragglers. He had stood outside the castle in the shadows for a couple of hours after the group of them had left, and there hadn't been anyone or anything come to the castle since. It was time to pack it in.

But, wait a minute. He saw a flash of movement at the edge of the woods now. A moment later, a tall figure emerged from the mist.

"I know you're there, Paul. I can smell you."

Paul rolled his eyes. Man, why hadn't Castiel taken care of this guy while he was here? He guessed maybe he'd been in too much of a hurry to get that Tablet back to the States and get his wife some rest. Poor thing had been looking pretty pale when Paul had seen her last, and not just because she was white.

Paul stepped out into the light cast by the full moon. "You'd better not be saying I stink," Paul said abrasively. "What do you want, Jason?"

"It's more like, what are YOU doing here?" Jason said, ignoring what Paul had said. "Don't you know you're wasting your time? Castiel is already gone."

Ohhh. Right. Jason thought that Paul was here laying in wait to kill Castiel. Good. He could work with that.

"He's gone?" Paul said angrily. "Are you sure? How do you know?"

"Because I saw him and his happy little group back at the hotel," Jason replied, smirking. "They'll be back in the States by now."

"Then what are you smiling about?" Paul said, puzzled.

"I'm smiling because Castiel thinks I'm dead, and because he obviously doesn't know you're also back on Earth," Jason told him. "I think we should go to Lucifer and ask him for a raise. We're the biggest assets he's got right now."

Paul's blood ran cold. "What do you mean, Castiel thinks you're dead?"

Jason smiled more widely, revealing his sharp teeth. "Just what I said. Actually, you should have been there. It was pretty funny. I was watching at the hotel, just in case they were able to deal with the onslaught here at the castle." That was a lie, of course. Jason had really been hanging around the hotel waiting for Gail. He had decided to turn her after all, so that he could keep her with him. Based on the pale and waxy appearance of her skin, he'd estimated that it would only take a couple more feedings. But as soon as the group had walked into the lobby, Jason could see that there had been something different about her. She'd had some colour back in her face, and her demeanour was changed. He'd even sniffed the air as she'd gone by, and her scent was altered. His spell had been broken, somehow.

Jason had turned to his companion, a shapeshifter of limited intelligence. The guy was a straggler who had only now arrived at the hotel, eager to exact revenge on the Winchesters for having killed him. "There's your chance," Jason had said to the creature.

But the shapeshifter had been leery. "There are a lot of them," he'd whined. "Three Angels, including Castiel? No, thanks. Maybe I'll just forget about it."

Jason let out a frustrated breath. What a coward. Five humans, Chuck, a female Angel who'd had most of her blood drained, and Castiel. What kind of an alleged monster was this guy? OK, he could accept a garden-variety creature being intimidated by someone like Castiel, but still...Then he snapped his fingers.

"Change into me," Jason said to his companion.

"What?" the shapeshifter asked, surprised.

"Really?" Jason tried again. "Change into me," he said, raising his voice. "I'm an Alpha Vampire. I'm a hell of a lot scarier than you." He motioned to the window. "Look. Most of them are going upstairs, anyway. You can kill the female Angel on the couch, and then sneak upstairs and kill the Winchesters, while Castiel's back is turned. You can kill the others, too, if you want. Go nuts."

Part of this exercise had been for Jason's own amusement. He highly doubted that this mealy-mouthed, so-called monster would be successful in killing any of them. If he did, it would be an unexpected bonus. But there was no way this guy was going to be able to sneak by Castiel unnoticed. Jason was sending him to Gail first for a reason. He wanted to see her reaction when she saw an entity that she would believe to be Jason standing over her. Would she succumb, or would she resist? If she did the latter, he would receive confirmation that he no longer held sway over her.

So the creature had transformed his appearance into Jason's, and once Gail had screamed, Jason had known that the game was over. He had watched the fate of the unfortunate shapeshifter, and then, a few minutes later, Jason had witnessed Castiel's disposal of the body. It was a little disconcerting to watch the cold and efficient way that Castiel had disposed of the body and cleaned up the scene, but Jason would expect no less from him. It had reminded Jason of the old days, when he and Castiel used to cover up their crime scenes together. Jason still felt a strange mixture of hate and admiration for Castiel, and he supposed he always would.

Paul was astonished to hear Jason's story. Damn, that had been smart. He'd better get that cell phone and warn Castiel at the earliest opportunity.

But then, there was another surprise appearance.

"Looks like the gang's back together again," Lucifer said happily. He and Mark approached where Jason and Paul were standing, and Lucifer clapped his hand on Paul's shoulder. "And just in time, too. You can help me with the death squads, Paul."

Paul swallowed, hard. Death squads? Oh, crap. This was bad. Very bad.

Lucifer was grinning. "I told Castiel to stop, but we all know he's not going to. So now, the four of us are going to team up to make sure they never get another moment's peace. Let the games begin, gentlemen." He grabbed Paul's arm and Mark seized Jason's, and they disappeared as the sun began to rise over the castle.

\- END OF BOOK 21 -


End file.
